Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Socio-economic characteristics of farmers and community food resources indices for some sampled villages in northern Nigeria.

Received: Revised: Accepted: July 12, 2014 August 27, 2014 September 02, 2014 This study looks at the socio-economic characteristics of the farming population in the northern Nigeria vis-à-vis the community food resources as basis for food security. Data were obtained from seven communities with the use of focus group discussions and 219 farmers were equally administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the result shows that the pooled average household size was 7.4. Average farm income earning of community residents was found to be between N158,615.38k ($1,010) to N273,095.24k ($1,740) and non-farm earning between N64,846.15k ($413) to N182,333.33k ($1,161) annually. The per capita income of an average farmer was observed to be N100.42 ($0.64) per day, a 36% figure lower than the $1 poverty line. Farming activities was found mostly indigenous as land acquisition, the most important food production resource, was generally by inheritance. The average total production in grain equivalent per household in the communities sampled was between 1,709.59kg and 3,601.93kg, while many of the communities sampled lacked adequate food resources to feed its residents. Recommendations were given in line with social and economic policies frame work to address institutional infrastructure and economic empowerment for the farmers.
Guarding privacy on the internet: privacy policy, government regulations and technology solutions

A vast array of goods and services are being advertised, bought and exchanged worldwide using the internet as a global marketplace. New e-business technologies have increased the ability of online merchants to collect, monitor, target and sell personal information about consumers to third parties. Online consumer privacy, therefore, has attracted the attention of regulators across the globe and poses a significant challenge to online marketers. The FTC has identified five 'core' privacy principles, which are widely accepted by leading countries. With the EU Directive already in force, trust seals and government regulations are the two leading forces pushing for more privacy disclosures. Undoubtedly, privacy should be protected, but the standard applied differs from country to country. Privacy legislation prevalent in the USA and the EU is surveyed in this paper. Currently, the only way consumers can stop the collection of their personal data is to 'opt-out' or configure the browser to reject 'cookies'. We have examined various privacy-enhancing technology solutions but there is no 'single' solution to stop the erosion of privacy in cyberspace. For corporations that collect and use personal information, ignoring privacy legislative and regulatory warning signs can prove to be a costly mistake.
Cloning and nucleotide sequence of a chromosomally encoded tetracycline resistance determinant, tetA(M), from a pathogenic, methicillin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus

This report describes the cloning and sequencing of a chromosomally encoded tetracycline resistance determinant from a clinical isolate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. On the basis of the sequence, the gene is in the tet(M) class, and it was shown that the S. aureus tetA(M) gene is induced at the level of transcription.
THE STOCK EXCHANGE OF THAILAND'S CSR AWARD WINNERS: THEIR CSR POLICIES, JUSTIFICATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a major concern among companies, especially large companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The objectives of this qualitative research are to study on CSR management structures, policies and activities of large four companies which are the SET's CSR award winners in 2011 as well as to analyze their CSR justifi cations and their level of involvement in the society. Secondary data were collected from various sources including their fi nancial reports, annual reports, sustainability development reports, newspaper clippings, databases, websites, seminars, theses, newsletters and magazines. Content analysis and Porter's and Kramer's approach (2002, 2006 and 2011) were used as method and guideline for data analysis. Research fi ndings are as the following: The market capitalization of these four SET's CSR Award winners including PTT, SCC, SCB and DTAC was 12% of the total SET's market capitalization; For CSR management structures, all four companies have formed committees at either board of directors or executives levels to issue CSR policies and frameworks as well as committees at business units, functional level or foundations
A Perspective on Materials Databases

Several challenges are involved in developing and maintaining materials property databases, including improvements in measurement procedures, the changing nature of materials, access to proprietary data on new materials, and the need for quality evaluation. In this paper we discuss each of these issues and their impact on the availability of high quality material property data, using ceramics as an example material.
Glycopeptidolipids from Mycobacterium avium promote macrophage activation in a TLR2‐ and MyD88‐dependent manner

The Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) are key components in the immune response against numerous pathogens. Previous studies have indicated that TLR2 plays an essential role in promoting immune responses against mycobacterial infections. Prior work has also shown that mice deficient in TLR2 are more susceptible to infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette‐Guerin, and Mycobacterium avium. Therefore, it is important to define the molecules expressed by pathogenic mycobacteria, which bind the various TLRs. Although a number of TLR agonists have been characterized for M. tuberculosis, no specific TLR ligand has been identified in M. avium. We have found that glycopeptidolipids (GPLs), which are highly expressed surface molecules on M. avium, can stimulate the nuclear factor‐κB pathway as well as mitogen‐activated protein kinase p38 and Jun N‐terminal kinase activation and production of proinflammatory cytokines when added to murine bone marrow‐derived macrophages. This stimulation was dependent on TLR2 and myeloid differentiation primary‐response protein 88 (MyD88) but not TLR4. M. avium express apolar and serovar‐specific (ss)GPLs, and it is the expression of the latter that determines the serotype of a particular M. avium strain. It is interesting that the ssGPLs activated macrophages in a TLR2‐ and MyD88‐dependent manner, and no macrophage activation was observed when using apolar GPLs. ssGPLs also differed in their ability to activate macrophages with Serovars 1 and 2 stimulating inhibitor of κB p38 and phosphorylation and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) secretion, while Serovar 4 failed to stimulate p38 activation and TNF‐α production. Our studies indicate that ssGPLs can function as TLR2 agonists and promote macrophage activation in a MyD88‐dependent pathway.
Research and analysis of private cloud: evaluation of a case with Eucalyptus and WaveMaker

Private cloud as one model of cloud computing has its own special features, compared with public cloud. It is designed to supply more control over the data to one organization with implementation in a private network. This paper makes a comparison of public cloud and private cloud. After this comparison, we choose Eucalyptus to do a case study on the private cloud. Furthermore, we realize a kind of prototype of SaaS based on Eucalyptus by WaveMaker. We also do some experimental evaluation of this cloud platform services.
cAMP Response Element-binding Protein (CREB) and Nuclear Factor κB Mediate the Tamoxifen-induced Up-regulation of Glutamate Transporter 1 (GLT-1) in Rat Astrocytes*

Background: Tamoxifen (TX), a selective estrogen receptor modulator, enhances glutamate transporter (GLT-1) expression in astrocytes. Results: TX up-regulated GLT-1 expression via the CREB and NF-κB pathways. Conclusion: TX enhanced GLT-1 expression at the transcriptional level. Significance: Understanding the mechanisms of TX action on GLT-1 will contribute to the development of neuroprotectants against excitotoxicity. Tamoxifen (TX), a selective estrogen receptor modulator, exerts antagonistic effects on breast tissue and is used to treat breast cancer. Recent evidence also suggests that it may act as an agonist in brain tissue. We reported previously that TX enhanced the expression and function of glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) in rat astrocytes, an effect that was mediated by TGF-α. To gain further insight into the mechanisms that mediate TX-induced up-regulation of GLT-1 (EAAT2 in humans), we investigated its effect on GLT-1 at the transcriptional level. TX phosphorylated the cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and recruited CREB to the GLT-1 promoter consensus site. The effect of TX on astrocytic GLT-1 was attenuated by the inhibition of PKA, the upstream activator of the CREB pathway. In addition, the effect of TX on GLT-1 promoter activity was abolished by the inhibition of the NF-κB pathway. Furthermore, TX recruited the NF-κB subunits p65 and p50 to the NF-κB binding domain of the GLT-1 promoter. Mutation of NF-κB (triple, −583/-282/-251) or CRE (-308) sites on the GLT-1 promoter led to significant repression of the promoter activity, but neither mutant completely abolished the TX-induced GLT-1 promoter activity. Mutation of both the NF-κB (-583/-282/-251) and CRE (-308) sites led to a complete abrogation of the effect of TX on GLT-1 promoter activity. Taken together, our findings establish that TX regulates GLT-1 via the CREB and NF-κB pathways.
Developing a logical model for cellular manufacturing systems by theory of constraints thinking process approach

Performance of cellular manufacturing systems has been rigorously investigated during the last two decades. Many of these studies are quantitative and involve precise modelling. The purpose of this paper is to determine critical factors in cellular manufacturing system (CMS) and to identify relationships between different factors of CMS via systematic approach of the theory of constraint thinking process. For this purpose, potential undesirable effects and critical factors of CMS have been identified through a brainstorming session with experts. Then, factors are analysed using thinking process by examining casual relationships, and some strategies have been suggested based on the critical factors. Findings show that knowledge of managers, management information system, performance evaluation, market demands, work-in-process inventory, number of cells, assigning of workers to cells, and identification of part families are recognised as the critical factors in strategic decision making. The proposed factors and the relationships have been validated by 68 experts using a binomial test.
Finite-element analysis of electrical machines for sensorless drives with signal injection

A challenge during the design process of an electrical machine is the characterization of the various parameters in a computational time as short as possible. To this purpose, the analysis strategies are manifold. In addition, it is more frequent to obtain parameters of the electrical machine that are necessary for the drive control. In this paper, a strategy to compute the high-frequency signal injection response of an electrical machine adopted in a sensorless electric drive is presented. It allows to determine the self-sensing capability of the machine directly during the design process. Such a capability is defined in any given operating points (for instance along the maximum torque per Amps trajectory). In addition, the computational time required to get such data is very short. After a magnetostatic field analysis, carried out so as to get the torque for a given current, the flux density distribution is stored and the differential reluctivity is evaluated in each element of the mesh. Then, a time-harmonic analysis is carried out in a linearized structure so as to compute the d-q parameters at the injection frequency. The proposed procedure is applied to different type of machines and validated by comparison with experimental results.
Interference with simian virus 40 DNA replication by adenovirus type 2 during mixed infection of monkey cells

Infection of monkey cells with human adenovirus (Ad) is abortive, but the infection can be enhanced by coinfecting with simian virus 40 (SV40). However, in the coinfected monkey cells, Ad interferes strongly with SV40 DNA biosynthesis. This interference was found to be a reproducible, delicately controlled phenomenon that was proportional to the multiplicity of infection of Ad and dependent on the active expression of the Ad genome. Newly synthesized SV40 DNA was not broken down in cells after delayed superinfection with Ad, and several early events of SV40 infection such as adsorption, penetration, uncoating, induction of cellular DNA synthesis, and enhancement of Ad infection were not markedly influenced by Ad-mediated interference. It is unlikely that interference is simply due to competition between SV40 and Ad for metabolites, enzymes, or replication sites. The interference effect could be partially neutralized by an increase in the multiplicity of coinfecting SV40 or by an increase in the time interval between SV40 infection and Ad coinfection. Interference was shown to be due to the activity of an Ad early gene product. However, the detailed mechanism of this Ad interference is still unclear.
Genetic parameters and trends for hogget traits in Merino lines divergently selected for multiple rearing ability.

S.W. P. Cloete, J.J. Olivier, J.B. van Wyk, S.J. Schoeman and G.J. Erasmus University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa Institute for Animal production: Elsenburg, Private Bag X1, Elsenburg 7607, South Africa ARC: Animal Improvement Institute, Private Bag X5013, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa Animal Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness in a Quantity Food Laboratory Setting: Phase Three-Student Feedback

The findings described in this manuscript represent the third phase in an ongoing project that began in 2003. In phase one of the project, the researchers developed a student evaluation tool (SET) for evaluating teaching effectiveness in a quantity foods laboratory taught at four-year institutions through a Delphi panel. In the second phase of the project, the researchers solicited feedback from a national sample of hospitality educators regarding the relative importance and appropriateness of the 27 items that were developed by the Delphi panel. The purpose of the third phase of the research project was to solicit feedback from hospitality management students who have completed a quantity foods class at four-year institutions nationwide. The results yielded means ranging between 4.1 and 4.6 on a 5-point Likert scale for each of the 27 criteria items. The findings from the student survey validated the work of the Delphi panel. Furthermore, these findings are similar to the opinions of CHRIE educators, as previously reported.
bigEE : bridging the information gap on Energy Efficiency in buildings

Alle nachhaltigen und risikominimierenden Energieszenarien machen deutlich, dass eine Transformation in eine klimaund ressourcenschonende Zukunft neben dem Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien entscheidend von Energieeffizienzsteigerungen abhängig ist. Beispielsweise sollen erneuerbare Energien im Energieszenario des World Energy Outlook (OECD/ IEA 2010) bis 2035, im Vergleich zum „Current Policies Scenario“ mit knapp über 20% dazu beitragen, die Grenze von 450 ppm CO2eq (Vermeidung von 20,9 Gt CO2eq) einzuhalten. Energieeffizienz macht in diesem Szenario knapp die Hälfte aus.
A Location Choice Approach for Professional Service Firms

This paper discusses the use of the factor rating method for service facility site selection. The method combines the results of objective mathematical location choice models with other qualitative criteria to obtain a single quantitative score upon which the location decision is based. The simplicity and ease of understanding of the method, added to its ability to incorporate both subjective and objective factors, make it a useful decision tool. The method is particularly suitable for small professional service firms which may not have the resources to uti- lize more sophisticated location choice models.
Characterizing Factors Associated with Built-Up Land Expansion in Urban and Non-Urban Areas from a Morphological Perspective

In this paper, built-up land expansion patterns and the associated factors were characterized in urban and non-urban areas across the Wen-Tai region of eastern China. Fractal dimension can be used as a reliable indicator of the complexity of built-up land form, and the increasing trend of fractal dimension indicated a more complex, dispersed pattern of built-up land in urban areas. Spatial regression models were quantitatively implemented to identify the indicators influencing the variation of fractal dimensions. Our findings suggested that the fractal dimension of built-up land forms was positively correlated to the patch density and elevation when built-up land expansion was more concentrated. Both landscape shape index and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were positively correlated with fractal dimension in urban areas, and total edge, edge density, and connective index had impacts on fractal dimension in non-urban areas. Slope and agricultural population also showed an influence on fractal dimension. This study provided a new way for urban studies in interpreting the complex interactions between fractal dimension and related factors. The combined approach of fractal dimension and spatial analysis can provide the government planners with valuable information that can be efficiently used to realize the influences of land use policies in urban and non-urban areas.
Squaring a tournament: A proof of Dean's conjecture

Let the square of a tournament be the digraph on the same nodes with arcs where the directed distance in the tournament is at most two. This paper verifies Dean's conjecture: any tournament has a node whose outdegree is at least doubled in its square. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Pithos: a state persistency architecture for peer-to-peer massively multiuser virtual environments

An aspect of peer-to-peer (P2P) massively multiuser virtual environments (MMVEs) that has not received significant attention thus far, is how game objects can be stored in a distributed fashion, taking into account the unique aspects of MMVEs. The field is termed P2P MMVE state persistency. This paper explores the different models of state persistency for P2P MMVEs, namely super peer storage, overlay storage, hybrid storage and distance-based storage. All storage types are found to be lacking in some respects and therefore a novel storage system called Pithos is introduced. Pithos provides low latency storage for peers within the same group, while enabling higher latency, but reliable backup to a storage overlay. This is achieved by a two-tiered hybrid architecture making use of player grouping.
Effects of Measurement Error on Horizontal Hydraulic Gradient Estimates

During the design of a natural gradient tracer experiment, it was noticed that the hydraulic gradient was too small to measure reliably on an ∼500‐m2 site. Additional wells were installed to increase the monitored area to 26,500 m2, and wells were instrumented with pressure transducers. The resulting monitoring system was capable of measuring heads with a precision of ±1.3 × 10−2 m. This measurement error was incorporated into Monte Carlo calculations, in which only hydraulic head values were varied between realizations. The standard deviation in the estimated gradient and the flow direction angle from the x‐axis (east direction) were calculated. The data yielded an average hydraulic gradient of 4.5 × 10−4±25% with a flow direction of 56° southeast ±18°, with the variations representing 1 standard deviation. Further Monte Carlo calculations investigated the effects of number of wells, aspect ratio of the monitored area, and the size of the monitored area on the previously mentioned uncertainties. The exercise showed that monitored areas must exceed a size determined by the magnitude of the measurement error if meaningful gradient estimates and flow directions are to be obtained. The aspect ratio of the monitored zone should be as close to 1 as possible, although departures as great as 0.5 to 2 did not degrade the quality of the data unduly. Numbers of wells beyond three to five provided little advantage. These conclusions were supported for the general case with a preliminary theoretical analysis.
The Fisher hypothesis: a multi-country analysis

This paper tests whether the Fisher hypothesis holds for a sample of 26 countries by assessing the long run relationship between nominal interest rates and inflation rates taking into consideration the short run dynamics of interest rates. The empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that there is a one-to-one relationship between the interest rate and inflation for more than half of the countries under study.
Gastropod intermediate hosts of Parelaphostrongylus tenuis (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea) from northwestern Indiana.

Thirteen species of terrestrial gastropods from the Kingsbury State Fish and Wildlife Area, Indiana, were examined for the presence of third-stage larvae (L3s) of the meningeal worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, during the summers of 1987 and 1988. Three (Deroceras laeve, Discus cronkhitei, and unidentified species of Cochlicopa [= Cionella]) were infected. Prevalence of infection was low, 1.1% and 2.7% in 1987 and 1988, respectively. The highest prevalence was 5.5% in Cochlicopa spp. ; however, most of the larvae from this host were recently molted second-stage larvae (L2s). Attempts to identify foci of infection based on vegetation cover, soil pH, and replaceable calcium levels in the soil were unsuccessful. This is the first report of P. tenuis from Indiana.
The Code of Conduct and the EU Corporate Tax Regime: Voluntary Coordination without Harmonization

Despite a long quest for corporate tax harmonization, the EU countries were only able to introduce a common corporate tax regime through the Code of Conduct in 1997. Aside from the significance of this development, it raises a puzzle as to the institutional choice for the corporate tax cooperation. The Code of Conduct is far from the idea of harmonization that requires the establishment of supranational authority. It is strictly on a voluntary basis and leaves intact national discretion. I argue that this institutional choice reflects the member countries’ ability to absorb the costs of tax competition and domestic political consensus on the desirability of the neoliberal tax reforms. The rise of an EU corporate tax regime in the 1990s is rooted in the growing concern the dampening effect of tax competition in the EU. Yet, the effect of tax competition has not been so drastic due to the offsetting factors. Further, the policy consensus on the desirability of neoliberal tax reforms made it easy to cope with the pressure of tax competition through domestic solutions than the supranational one. These two factors explain the EU countries’ reluctance to relinquishing national discretion for the sake of supranational authority.