Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Employment and Productivity Link: A Study on OIC Member Countries

The relationship between employment and productivity is examined to determine if a tradeoff exists between the two vari ables. The study focuses on OIC member countries and applies time-series econometric techniques to analyze both the long-run and dynamic relationships. The results suggest that high levels of employment (or its growth) are linked with lower levels of productivity (or its growth) f or 5 out of the 22 countries studied. Yemen is the only country that e xhibits a positive relationship between employment and productivity. However, for this case, both these variable are endogenous which impl ies that other factors are driving the two variables. For other countries, a long-term employment-productivity relationship is not support ed. The findings of the study can be useful in providing some observati ons to policy makers to improve the standard of living and achieving sus tainable growth for their nations.
INTERACTION BETWEEN KETOCONAZOLE, AMPHOTERICIN B AND TERBINAFIN AND THREE DIAZENUMDIOLATES IN CONCOMITANT USES AGAINST SOME FUGAL SPECIES

A checkerboard broth microdilution method was performed to investigate the in vitro antifungal activities of three diazeniumdiolates derivatives (DETA/NO, DPTA/NO, DEA/NO) alone and in combination with ketoconazole, amphotricin B or terbinafine against five Candida species, Cryptococcus neoformance and four dermatophyte strains. MICs and MLCs were recorded, and synergy was calculated by using fractional inhibitory and fractional lethal concentration index. DETA/NO with a half-life of 57h at 25°C showed antifungal activity against all tested dermatophyte species (MIC 0.150 to 2.5mg/ml), DPTA/NO with a half life of 3h at 37°C showed antifungal activity against five species of Candida and Cryptococcus neoformans, and DEA/NO with a half life of 2 min at 37°C and 16 min at 25°C did not show antifungal activity against tested strains. Combinations of DPTA-NO with either ketoconazole or amphotericin B were either synergistic or indifferent for all tested strain of Candida and Cryptococcus neoformance. DETA/NO was unable to enhance the antifungal activity of terbinafine against dermatophyte strains. Even where no synergistic activity was achieved, there was still a decrease in the MIC of one or both drugs which were used in combination. Antagonism was observed between terbinafine and DETA-NO against Trichophyton rubrum. Our result suggests that DETA/NO and DPTA/NO may be useful for development of new therapeutic strategies for treatment of dermatophyte and Candida infections. Clinical studies are warranted to elucidate the potential utility of these combination therapies.
A preliminary assessment of using conservation drones for Sumatran orang-utan (Pongo abelii) distribution and density

To conserve biodiversity, scientists monitor wildlife populations and their habitats. Current methods have constraints, such as the costs of ground or aerial surveys, limited resolution of freely available satellite images, and expensive high-resolution satellite images. Recently researchers started to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) for wildlife and habitat monitoring. Here we tested whether we could detect nests of the critically endangered Sumatran orang-utan on imagery acquired from a camera-mounted drone to determine distribution and density. Our results show that the distribution of nests compares well between aerial and ground-based surveys and that relative density (nest/km) shows a significant correlation between these two survey types. The results also indicate that both methods can be used to detect significant differences in relative density between previously degraded reforested and enriched areas. We conclude that orang-utan nest surveys from drones are a promising survey metho.
Database of Polish arable mineral soils: a review

Abstract The database of Polish arable mineral soils is presented. The database includes a lot of information about the basic properties of soils and their dynamic characteristics. It was elaborated for about 1 000 representative profiles of soils in Poland The database concerns: particle size distribution, organic carbon content, acidity-pH, specific surface area, hydrophobicity - solidliquid contact angle, static and dynamic hydrophysical properties, oxidation-reduction properties and selected biological (microbiological) properties of soils. Knowledge about soil characteristics is indispensable for description, interpretation and prediction of the course of physical, chemical and biological processes, and modelling these processes requires representative data. The utility of simulation and prediction models describing phenomena which take place in the soil-plant-atmosphere system greatly depends on the precision of data concerning characteristics of soil. On the basis of this database, maps of chosen soil properties are constructed. The aim of maps is to provide specialists in agriculture, ecology, and environment protection with an opportunity to gain knowledge of soil properties and their spatial and seasonal variability.
Group Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Assertive Community Treatment Team Clients

The aim of the present AB Case Study was to examine whether modified Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) (1) could be successfully implemented for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team clients with severe persistent mental disorders and high comorbidity, (2) would be efficacious in reducing symptomology (suicidal behaviours, self-harm behaviours, and depression), and (3) would be efficacious in increasing mindfulness skills and Overall Participation Session Rating (PSR) scores. The implementation of DBT was examined at pre and post for clinical/substantive changes. The DBT program consisted of eight weekly two-hour sessions of mindfulness. The four study participants aged 37-44 years received mental health services from Frontenac Community Mental Health Services (FCMHS) ACT team, and met DSM-IV-TR criteria for Axis I and Axis II diagnoses (2000). Results indicated that modified DBT appeared successful for one participant when pre and post were compared. There was a reduction in depression, and an increase in Overall mean PSR performance. However, this was not true for the other 3 participants. Also, findings on suicidal behaviours, self-harm behaviours, and mindfulness skills could not be evaluated in the present study due to lack of data. Though there was limited data, the present study results for one participant, although preliminary, suggest that DBT might provide an effective treatment for ACT clients suffering with complex and severe mental disorders. However, in order to gain a clearer sense of DBT’s effectiveness, certain programmatic changes appear necessary.
SHARKS OF THE ORDER CARCHARHINIFORMES FROM THE BRITISH CONIACIAN, SANTONIAN AND CAMPANIAN (UPPER CRETACEOUS)

Abstract: Bulk sampling of phosphate‐rich horizons within the British Coniacian to Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) yielded very large samples of shark and ray teeth. All of these samples yielded teeth of diverse members of the Carcharhiniformes, which commonly dominate the fauna. The following species are recorded and described: Pseudoscyliorhinus reussi ( Herman, 1977 ) comb. nov., Crassescyliorhinus germanicus ( Herman, 1982 ) gen. nov., Scyliorhinus elongatus ( Davis, 1887 ), Scyliorhinus brumarivulensis sp. nov., ? Palaeoscyllium sp. , Prohaploblepharus riegrafi ( Müller, 1989 ) gen. nov., ? Cretascyliorhinus sp. , Scyliorhinidae incertae sedis 1, Scyliorhinidae incertae sedis 2, Pteroscyllium hermani sp. nov., Protoscyliorhinus sp. , Leptocharias cretaceus sp. nov., Palaeogaleus havreensis Herman, 1977 , Paratriakis subserratus sp. nov., Paratriakis tenuis sp. nov., Paratriakis sp. indet. and ? Loxodon sp. Taxa belonging to the families ? Proscylliidae, Leptochariidae and Carcharhinidae are described from the Cretaceous for the first time. The evolutionary and palaeoecological implications of these newly recognised faunas are discussed.
Research Article A Model for a Thin Magnetostrictive Actuator in Nonlinear Dynamics

In this study, we propose a model for the dynamics of magnetostrictive hysteresis in a thin rod actuator when mechanically the material works in his nonlinear domain. We derive two equations that represent magnetic and mechanical dynamics equilibrium. Our model results from an application of the energy balance principle. The numerical simulations of the model with sinusoidal periodic external fieldgenerate the hysteresis curve and show the equivalent mechanic model. By using the method of multiple scales we analyze the effects of the nonlinear parameter in the system response of magnetostrictive materials. With Routh Hurwitz theorem, the stability and bifurcation analysis are carried out. Analytical and numerical methods are used to investigate the dynamics of the materials.
S-parameter-measurement-based high-speed signal transient characterization of VLSI interconnects on SiO/sub 2/-Si substrate

A new S-parameter-based signal transient characterization method for very large scale integrated (VLSI) interconnects is presented. The technique can provide very accurate signal integrity verification of an integrated circuit (IC) interconnect line since its S-parameters are composed of all the frequency-variant transmission line characteristics over a broad frequency band. In order to demonstrate the technique, test patterns are designed and fabricated by using a 0.35 /spl mu/m complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. The time-domain signal transient characteristics for the test patterns are then examined by using the S-parameters over a 50 MHz to 20 GHz frequency range. The signal delay and the waveform distortion presented in the interconnect lines based on the proposed method are compared with the existing interconnect models. Using the experimental characterizations of the test patterns, it is shown that the silicon substrate effect and frequency-variant transmission line characteristics of IC interconnects can be very crucial.
Association of insertion/deletion polymorphism of Alu angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion genotype with type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension in J&K population: A case control study

The objective of the study is to know the frequencies of insertion/deletion (I/D) allele and association of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), I/D polymorphism in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) populations in relation to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (HTN). A total of 500 individuals were recruited for the present study. Out of these 500 individuals, 250 individuals had T2DM and HTN and 250 were healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using allele specific oligonucleotide primers. The allele frequency for I allele and D allele was found to be 63% and 37% in patients with T2DM and HTN and 48% and 52% for healthy controls. Genotype frequency for homozygote insertion (II), heterozygote (ID) and homozygote deletion (DD) allele was in range of 99.23, 116.55 and 34.23 for patients with T2DM and HTN and 56.64, 124.71 and 68.64 for healthy controls. ID versus II+ID model for odds showed a significant association of ACE I/D polymorphism with T2DM and HTN. The I allele and ID genotype of ACE gene is associated with T2DM and HTN. Key words: ACE, insertion, deletion, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (HTN).
Analysis of transcription factors during late-embryogenesis : the role of FUS 3 , LEC 1 , ABI 3 and AtET

70 Analysis of the response of FUS3 and ABI3 to ABA demonstrated that in contrast to the enhancing effect of ABA on the ABI3 mediated promoter activation, ABA had an repressive effect on the FUS3 mediated promoter activation. A further characterisation of the interaction between the FUS3, LEC1 and ABI3 proteins with the two hybrid system showed that the FUS3 and LEC1 proteins interact with each other. This in contrast to FUS3 and ABI3. The identification of the RY element as a direct target of the FUS3 protein prompted the screening of promoters from the annotated genes on chromosomes two and four of the Arabidopsis genome. Using this approach fifty-five RY containing promoters and their corresponding genes were identified. Two of these promoters were tested for their activation by FUS3, LEC1 and ABI3. However only a minor induction of both promoters was observed and possibly other factors must be involved in the activation. In order to provide further insight into the function of the FUS3 protein, transgenic N. tabacum plants were generated in which the FUS3 cDNA was ectopically overexpressed. This overexpression resulted into the accumulation of legumin proteins in the leaves. Furthermore mitochondria had a change in morphology. They were twisted around their own axis, forming what looked like an invagination. The transfer of other aspects of 'seed maturation syndrome' to the leaves is under investigation. Screening for additional factors regulating seed storage protein expression resulted into the isolation of two proteins one from B. napus, BnET and one from V. faba, VfET. Both proteins had a low but significant homology to each other and contained a repeated conserved amino acid sequence. Three genes displaying sequence similarity to the cDNA sequence of BnET and VfET are also present in the Arabidopsis genome. The predicted protein sequence of one of this genes, AtET51, has the highest homology as compared to the predicted protein sequences of BnET and VfET. From the other two genes, one seems to represent a pseudogene while the predicted protein from the other gene, AtET52, looks like a truncated version of the BnET and VfET proteins.The C-terminal part of all ET proteins, except AtET52, is characterised by having two or four repeats of the amino acid sequence, CX9CX9RCX2HK. This structure of the ET proteins is suggested to represent a novel uncharacterised Zn-finger. Analysis of the expression pattern of AtET51 and VfET showed that both genes are ubiquitous expressed but have lower expression levels during late embryogenesis. Ectopical overexpression of BnET in N. tabacum resulted into plants with a strong dwarf phenotype. Microscopical analysis demonstrated that the secondary cell wall thickenings of the tracheary elements from these dwarf plants was severely reduced.
THE NEW GENERATIONS AND THE ADDICTIONS TO TECHNOLOGY

Ever since the embryonic stage and immediately after birth, most of the children are raised in an environment where the TV and loads of electronic devices are a constant. Later on, the always-busy parents or the nannies give the little ones the chance to busy themselves around the TV, which - even when it is not purposely watched - provides them with a sense of security through the sonorous background it creates. Obviously, they should derive security from a viable communication and communion with parents and adults. The same desire to calm their child prompts the parents to present the young one with a new and marvellous toy: the telephone, which at that point is nothing more than a musical device that stirs up interest or serves as a tether. The following few years are spent with the TV as a fixture in the background, and with the mobile phone as a play-mate. With its help, the child is now able to shoot ducks as fast as possible, or „eat up‟ falling pies almost instinctively, etc. Then he/she grows up, and the „pretty limited offer on the TV‟ starts to go adrift, as the parents are proud of their offspring's performances related to computers and the internet. It is almost „natural‟ that every child should own a mobile phone, even when they are in primary school. And as the mobile phones are almost entirely extinct, it‟s only natural that they should have a smartphone. The results of such upbringing are beginning to show more and more in the contemporary society, both at an educational and a behavioural level, as the performances of youth in schools have suffered alterations, and their violence level has increased.
CHOICE OF PARAMETRIC FAMILIES OF COPULAS

Copulas have evolved into a popular tool for modeling dependence in a large number of statistical models. Choosing a copula from an ever increasing set of possibilities presents difficulties that are well recognized in the literature. In this paper we investigate via simulation the effect of copula misspecification on various quantities of interest in the model such as conditional means and conditional variances. We also investigate methods to select among a number of candidate families of parametric copulas using nonparametric kernel smoothing and various distances between distributions. Both the Kullback-Leibler divergence and the Hellinger distance perform very well in this setting.
Quantitative study of synaptic boutons on frog intracardiac neurons

The frog is a useful model to study the structure and function of intracardiac neurons. The goal of this study was to evaluate the size and distribution of synaptic boutons on the intracardiac neurons in the frog Rana temporaria . Interatrial septa from four animals were double-labelled immunohistochemically for the cholinergic marker choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and the marker of synaptic vesicles synaptophysin (SYP). One hundred intracardiac neurons were analysed by confocal microscopy. Terminals of preganglionic axons were strongly positive for ChAT, while synaptic boutons were strongly positive for both ChAT and SYP. The number of synaptic boutons per neuron ranged from 2 to 121 and was 10±2 (mean±SE). The total area of synaptic boutons ranged from 6 μm 2 to 270 μm 2 and was 98±6 μm 2 . The largest total area of synaptic boutons was found on the axonal half of neuronal soma (59±4 μm 2 ). The total areas of synaptic boutons on both the non-axonal half of soma and the proximal axon were smaller (36±3 μm 2 ; 6±2 μm 2 ; P<0.001). Synaptic boutons occupied 13±1% of the area of the neuronal soma profile. Conclusions: 1) The axonal half of the soma of the frog intracardiac neuron is more densely innervated than the non-axonal half of the soma. 2) The axosomatic and axoaxonic synapses are present on frog intracardiac neurons. The study provides a framework for further experimental studies on the formation and rearrangement of synapses on frog intracardiac neurons.
Economic Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan

Abstract Pakistan aims to increase the investment GDP ratio by attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). The foreign investors mostly from the developed dynamic centers are enhancing international production by investing in resource abundant economies. Having an overview of the influx of cross border investments, this paper empirically attempted to investigate the determinants of foreign direct investment in Pakistan. The analysis enabled identification of some economic determinants of FDI in Pakistan, like GDP growth rate, volume of exports, human population, tariff on imports, and price index. Volume of exports has been emerged the most powerful determinant of FDI. The government should make a paradigm shift in its investment policy to attract FDI. It should focus on export-oriented industries instead of encouraging FDI for domestic consumption.
Economic Implications on the Basis of Lithuanian Maritime Sector’s Clustering

This article analyses the Maritime Sector economic grow impact to Lithuania’s economy from a Cluster perspective. The potential competitive Maritime industry Cluster in Lithuania is on interest because Lithuanian Maritime Sector is expanding its connections to the whole European region, going beyond the boundaries of anyone industry sector, is supported by EU Strategic documents, but the steps towards clustering still are tentative and negligible. Assessing the Maritime sector impact on Lithuania's economy, the total economic impact (direct and indirect) was calculated by using the following indicators: number of Employees, Turnover and Value Added at Production Cost (VAPC). The period for the evaluation of the statistical givens trends has been chosen for 5 years, according to Official 2007 – 2011 period statistical givens, provided by Department of Statistics. KEYWORDS: Competitiveness, Maritime Sector, Clustering, Lithuania. JEL CODES: O18, O32, P25, R11 DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.15181/rfds.v13i2. 830
Health Benefits of Islamic Intermittent Fasting

Background & Objective: Â Islamic fasting is observed by millions of Muslims across the world during the holy month of Ramadan and other specific Â days of the lunar year. Fasting Â Muslims Â abstain from eating and drinking from dawn until sunset. Depending on season and geographical location, Muslims Â maintain fasting for approximately 13-18 hours per day. The present study aimed to review the benefits of Islamic fasting.Materials and Methods: Â This literature review was conducted via searching in Â databases like Medline, PubMed, PMC, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and reference lists of relevant articles using keywords like health benefits, Islamic fasting, intermittent fasting, alternate-day fasting, time-restricted feeding, and Ramadan intermittent fasting.Results: Islamic fasting could be considered as intermittent fasting as it is similar to alternate-day fasting and time-restricted feeding. Intermittent fasting is associated with numerous health benefits.Conclusion: Â According to this review, some of the main health benefits of Islamic fasting include weight loss, attenuation of metabolic markers (e.g., insulin resistance, blood glucose, and blood pressure), improved lipid profile, prevention of chronic problems (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer), protection against neurodegeneration, and diminished inflammation.Keywords: Health Benefits, Ramadan Fasting, Islamic Fasting, Intermittent Fasting, Alternate-day Fasting, Time-restricted Feeding
Simulation of Stock Prediction System using Artificial Neural Networks

Stock trading, used to predict the direction of future stock prices, is a dynamic business primarily based on human intuition. This involves analyzing some non-linear fundamental and technical stock variables which are recorded periodically. This study presents the development of an ANN-based prediction model for forecasting closing price in the stock markets. The major steps taken are identification of technical variables used for prediction of stock prices, collection and pre-processing of stock data, and formulation of the ANN-based predictive model. Stock data of periods between 2010 and 2014 were collected from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and stored in a database. The data collected were classified into training and test data, where the training data was used to learn non-linear patterns that exist in the dataset; and test data was used to validate the prediction accuracy of the model. Evaluation results obtained from WEKA shows that discrepancies between actual and predicted values are insignificant.
Determinants of Post-Caesarean Wound Infection in Nnewi, Nigeria

Background : Delivery by caesarean section has been reported as the single most important risk factor for maternal wound infection. Wound infection is not only a leading cause of prolonged hospital stay but a major cause of widespread aversion to caesarean delivery in developing countries. Despite all these, the determinants of post-caesarean wound infection in Nnewi have remained largely uninvestigated. Objective: This study was to determine the factors that predispose to post- caesarean wound