Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of credit constraints on aquaculture production and risk exposure in Ondo State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The issue of credit constraints cannot be underestimated in aquaculture production as it influences output through the amount and combination of inputs used. Hence, this research work studied the impact of credit constraints on aquaculture production and risk exposure in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to choose 180 fish farmers. To consider selection bias due to both observable and unobservable issues, an endogenous switching regression model was used to analyze data from 170 respondents who gave adequate information. The empirical findings revealed that being noncredit constrained increased fish output and reduced downside risk exposure (probability of output failure). Also, the farmer’s age, household size, education, nonfarm income, pond system, quantity of feed, and risk attitude significantly influenced credit status. Therefore, policy makers who intend to increase fish production and reduce output failure to bridge the supply-demand gap need to reduce credit constraints.
Self‐Assembled, 10 nm‐Tailored, Near Infrared Plasmonic Metasurface Acting as Broadband Omnidirectional Polarizing Mirror

Plasmonic metasurfaces tailored at the few‐nanometers scale and fabricated by high‐throughput lithography‐free methods are needed to efficiently produce optical components with optimal performance and small footprint. Herein, the design of such metasurfaces and their fabrication over cm2 areas by self‐assembly are reported. They present an optical cavity structure, in which a 2D array of parallel Au nanorods is coupled to a metal mirror through a thin spacer. The nanorods present a quasi‐monodisperse ≈10 nm diameter and separation, and a broad polydisperse length distribution. These remarkable nanostructural features, combining periodicity in one direction with randomness in another, endow the nanorod array with unconventional plasmonic and anisotropic effective optical properties. Thanks to these properties, for light polarized along the nanorods, the metasurface displays strong destructive optical interference and thus near‐perfect absorption over a broad range of angles of incidence and of wavelengths in the near infrared. In contrast, for light polarized perpendicular to the nanorods, no such interference occurs and thus the metasurface behaves as a metal mirror. In sum, the metasurface can be used as broadband omnidirectional polarizing mirror, an original thin and monolithic optical component merging the functionalities of a metal mirror and of a wire‐grid polarizer.
Phototransistor Behavior in CIGS Solar Cells and the Effect of the Back Contact Barrier

In this paper, the impact of the back contact barrier on the performance of Cu (In, Ga) Se2 solar cells is addressed. This effect is clearly visible at lower temperatures, but it also influences the fundamental parameters of a solar cell, such as open-circuit voltage, fill factor and the efficiency at normal operation conditions. A phototransistor model was proposed in previous works and could satisfactorily explain specific effects associated with the back contact barrier, such as the dependence of the saturated current in the forward bias on the illumination level. The effect of this contribution is also studied in this research in the context of metastable parameter drift, typical for Cu (In, Ga) Se2 thin-film solar cells, as a consequence of different bias or light soaking treatments under high-temperature conditions. The impact of the back contact barrier on Cu (In, Ga) Se2 thin-film solar cells is analyzed based on experimental measurements as well as numerical simulations with Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD). A barrier-lowering model for the molybdenum/Cu (In, Ga) Se2 Schottky interface was proposed to reach a better agreement between the simulations and the experimental results. Thus, in this work, the phototransistor behavior is discussed further in the context of metastabilities supported by numerical simulations.
Atypical lipomatous tumour of the axilla– A case report with histological correlation

Liposarcoma is the most prevalent soft tissue malignant tumour. It mostly arises in the subcutaneous tissue of shoulders, limbs and neck, and retroperitoneal space. Atypical lipomatous tumour (ALT) is a welldifferentiated liposarcoma (WDLPS) and constitutes 40–45% of all liposarcoma cases. They are locally invasive mesenchymal soft tissue tumours. Most of them are large in size. They have heterogeneous histomorphology, molecular and genetic characteristics, and clinical prognosis, making the diagnosis and treatment of difficult for surgeons. A case of 45-year-old woman with a tumour of the right axilla, causing a discreet asymmetry is presented. The tumour was soft and caused no tenderness. The patient reported no previous injury to the region. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) revealed atypical lipomatous cells suspected of liposarcoma. The patient was operated under general anaesthesia. The postoperative course was uneventful. The final histopathological diagnosis – was atypical lipomatous tumour/well-differentiated liposarcoma (ALT/WDLPS). ALT/WDLPS is a locally invasive tumour with a good prognosis. However delayed treatment is associated with an increase in tumour size, which can affect mobility. Therefore, to avoid possible local recurrence, extensive surgical resection of tumour tissue with wide margins is a desirable treatment for all ALT/WDLPS cases. Besides, for ALT/WDLPS tumours that are difficult to extensively excise, long-term follow-ups are necessary due to the possibility of recurrence. © 2020 Published by Innovative Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
Cell type-dependent control of p53 transcription and enhancer activity by p63

Transcriptional activation by p53 provides powerful, organism-wide tumor suppression. In this work, we demonstrate that the p53-induced transcriptome varies based on cell type, reflects cell type-specific activities, and is considerably more broad than previously anticipated. This behavior is strongly influenced by p53 engagement with differentially active cell type-specific enhancers and promoters. In epithelial cell types, p53 activity is dependent on the p53 family member p63, which displays widespread enhancer binding. Notably, we demonstrate that p63 is required for epithelial enhancer identity including enhancers used by p53 during stress-dependent signaling. Loss of p63, but not p53, leads to site-specific depletion of enhancer-associated chromatin modifications, suggesting that p63 functions as an enhancer maintenance factor in epithelial cells. Additionally, a subset of epithelial-specific enhancers is dependent on the activity of p63 providing a direct link between lineage determination and enhancer structure. These data suggest a broad, cell-intrinsic mechanism for regulating the p53-dependent cellular response to stress through differential regulation of cis-regulatory elements.
Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptides: A Novel Molecular Target for Hormone Dependent Breast Cancers

Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptides (OATP) are family of membrane associated uptake transporters that are expressed in various hormone dep ndent cancers, including breast cancers. OATP transporters are ubiquitously expressed and tr ansport bile salts, thyroid hormones, steroid hormones and their conjugates, linear and cyclic pe ptid s and xenobiotics. Estrone-3-sulphate (E3S), the predominant source of tumour estrogen fo r post-menopausal hormone dependent breast cancer patients, is an OATP substrate. There is limited understanding of the role of OATPs in tumour cell uptake of E3S and the potentia l of these transporters as a novel molecular target. Hence the objectives of this thesis were to determine: i. the differential expression and function of OATP in hormone dependent and independe nt breast cancers cells, ii. potential of E3S as a targeting ligand for hormone dependent bre ast tumours and, iii. the clinical expression of OATP in human breast tumour tissues. Expression of OATPs was found to be either exclusive iii or higher in cancer cells compared to immortalized breast epithelial cells. 10 times greater E3S transport efficiency was observed in hormone depend ent breast cancer cells. The in vivo studies conducted in hormone dependent (MCF-7) and independ ent (MDA-MB-231) xenograft models demonstrated significantly higher (p<0.05) E3S upta ke in hormone dependent xenografts [MCF7: 13.9 ± 3.1 %ID/g; MDA-MB-231: 10.4 ± 1.1 %ID/g; at 6 h post injection (p.i.)]. Additionally, the high tumour-to-blood ratios (MCF-7: 7.4±1.2; MD A-MB-231: 9.1±2.1; at 48 h p.i.), and tumour-to-muscle ratios (MCF-7: 10.7±1.5; MDA-MB-23 1: 3.8±0.7; at 6 h p.i.), suggests the potential of E3S as a novel ligand for targeting ho rm ne dependent breast cancers. In the human breast tumour tissue analysis, OATP expression was significantly higher in hormone receptor (HR) positive tumour sections, and highest target s ignals were obtained from the tumour regions of the tissues. These observations suggest the pote ntial of OATP as a novel molecular target for hormone dependent breast cancers.
Utilization of SNP-based Highly Saturated Molecular Map of a RIL Population for the Detection of QTLs and Mining of Candidate Genes for Salinity Tolerance in Rice

Purpose : Previously, QTL hotspots were identified for salt tolerance from a RIL population of At354 x Bg352, under a temperature-controlled environment at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippine. However, as the rice-growing environment in Sri Lanka experiences salinity stress exaggerated with high temperature, the importance of revealing QTLs under such environment of a tropical region was realized. Therefore, the present study was focused to examine QTLs under such environment, deploying SNP-based molecular map, and retrieving potential candidate genes underlying the QTLs. Research Method : RIL population was assessed at 12 dSm-1 electrical conductivity coupled with average temperature ranged from 38 to 32 °C, day and night, respectively. QTLs were mapped using SNP markers. Potential candidate genes were identified using NGS-based high-throughput QTL-seq strategy employing whole-genome re-sequencing data of At354 and Bg352 and Gene Ontology approach. Findings : The results revealed a broad spectrum of phenotypic variation and a significant coefficient of correlation among the morpho-physiological traits in the RIL population. Four QTLs were revealed on chromosome 7, 9, and 11 for shoot Na+ concentration (qSNC7), shoot K+ concentration (qSKC9), shoot Na+/K+ ratio (qSNK9) and root length (qRL11). Five genes, Os07g0635900, Os07g0637300, Os09g0330000, Os11g0514500, and Os11g0523800 within novel QTLs with polymorphic variants between At354 and Bg352, were recognized as potential candidate genes regulating salinity stress. Originality / Value : The putative candidate genes have been reported to be involved in cellular transmembrane and growth modulating functions under stress, indicating their usefulness to be further researched.
Pension communication, knowledge, and behaviour

Abstract Many recent pension reforms require individuals to make more decisions on supplementary savings, investment choices, etc. Governments and the pension industry try to assist individuals through pension communication but little is known about the effectiveness of such policies. This paper uses Dutch longitudinal data to analyse the causal links between communication, pension knowledge, and conscious pension decision-making. A robust finding is that pension knowledge has a positive causal effect on active pension decision-making. Providing an annual pension statement might have a small positive effect on pension knowledge, but this result is sensitive to the identifying assumptions.
A Review of Machine Learning Algorithms for Cloud Computing Security

Cloud computing (CC) is on-demand accessibility of network resources, especially data storage and processing power, without special and direct management by the users. CC recently has emerged as a set of public and private datacenters that offers the client a single platform across the Internet. Edge computing is an evolving computing paradigm that brings computation and information storage nearer to the end-users to improve response times and spare transmission capacity. Mobile CC (MCC) uses distributed computing to convey applications to cell phones. However, CC and edge computing have security challenges, including vulnerability for clients and association acknowledgment, that delay the rapid adoption of computing models. Machine learning (ML) is the investigation of computer algorithms that improve naturally through experience. In this review paper, we present an analysis of CC security threats, issues, and solutions that utilized one or several ML algorithms. We review different ML algorithms that are used to overcome the cloud security issues including supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised, and reinforcement learning. Then, we compare the performance of each technique based on their features, advantages, and disadvantages. Moreover, we enlist future research directions to secure CC models.
Safety and risk assessment for the human superorganism

ABSTRACT This editorial on safety evaluation and risk assessment for the human superorganism introduces a series of papers arguing for a fundamental shift in how we approach human health risk assessment. In this series emphasis is placed on the risk of infectious disease. Our 21stst century understanding of human biology is that, as holobionts, we possess a majority of microbial cells and genes. In fact, our microbes fundamentally affect our interactions with the external environment, metabolism, physiology, and risk of both pathology and disease. As holobionts, we require our microbial partners for us to be both complete and healthy. Using the 20th century understanding of human biology, we failed to capture the effects of the microbiome in evaluating health risks. But 21st century risk assessments such as those associated with exposure to specific microbial pathogens need to include the human microbiome. Microbiome status will be central in determining the health risks for both individuals and populations.
Evaluation of Changes in Glomalin-Related Soil Proteins (GRSP) Content, Microbial Diversity and Physical Properties Depending on the Type of Soil as the Important Biotic Determinants of Soil Quality

The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP) content, microbial diversity and soil physical quality depending on the type of soil measures of soil improvement and changes in soil health. The study was based on a 100-year stationary field microplot experiment where the soil profiles were collected with preserving the natural soil horizons. The microplot experiment was carried out on eight different soil types: Brunic Arenosol (Dystric I), Rendzic Leptosol, Fluvic Cambisol, Haplic Cambisol (Eutric), Gleyic Phaeozem, Brunic Arenosol (Dystric II), Haplic Cambisol (Eutric II) and Haplic Cambisol (Dystric). These soils are the most common types of agricultural soils in Poland. Relatively significant correlations with the soil quality, physical parameters and the glomalin-related soil proteins have been found. The study determined the total GRSP (T-GRSP) and easily extractable GRSP (EE-GRSP) levels in soils as well as the soil physical quality index and soil’s microbial biodiversity. The GRSP depended on the type of soil and correlated with S-Index and also was responsible for the unique chemical and physical properties of soils. Soils characterized by the highest T-GRSP content belonged to the group of very good and good soil physical quality characterized also by high biological activity, for which there were strong correlations with such parameters as dehydrogenase activity (DHA), microbial biomass content (MBC), microbial nitrogen content (MBN) and total bacteria number (B). The highest T-GRSP content and higher microbial diversity were found in Gleyic Phaeozem, Rendzic Leptosol and Fluvic Cambisol. The T-GRSP and EE-GRSP content were additionally correlated with the number of AMF spores. Very poor and poor soil physical quality according to S-Index characterized Brunic Arenosol (Dystric I) and Haplic Cambisol (Dystric). This research indicates that a specific edaphone of soil microorganisms and GRSP content may be of great importance when assessing a soil’s quality and improvements in soil health. The abundance of glomalin-producing fungi significantly affects the quality of the soil. This effect is particularly important for agricultural soils are threatened by ongoing land degradation.
Real-time traffic incident detection based on a hybrid deep learning model

Small sample sizes and imbalanced datasets have been two difficulties in previous traffic incident detection-related studies. Moreover, real-time characteristics of incident detection models must be improved to satisfy the needs of traffic management. In this study, a hybrid model is proposed to address the above problems. In the proposed model, a generative adversarial network (GAN) is used to expand the sample size and balance datasets, and a temporal and spatially stacked autoencoder (TSSAE) is used to extract temporal and spatial correlations of traffic flow and detect incidents. Using a real-world dataset, the model is evaluated from different aspects. The results show that the proposed model, considering both temporal and spatial variables, outperforms some benchmark models. The model can both increase the incident sample size and balance the dataset. Furthermore, the sample selection method improves the real-time capacity of the detection.
Comparison of Soil Water and Heat Transfer Modeling Over the Tibetan Plateau Using Two Community Land Surface Model (CLM) Versions

Soil water and heat transfer is one of the most important parts of water and energy partition between atmosphere and land surface, and it is more complicated over the cold regions. In this study, the observed soil moisture and temperature are selected from four sites over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) to evaluate the performances two versions of Community Land Model (CLM), that is, CLM4.5 and CLM5.0. In addition, soil temperature observations from 67 sites and soil moisture observations from Maqu and Naqu monitoring network over the TP were used to evaluate the performances of regional simulations. The results indicated that the simulated soil temperature generally coincided with that of the observed, while CLM5.0 outputs are closer to the observed soil temperature in the arid and semiarid regions compared to CLM4.5. Generally, CLM5.0 tended to overestimate soil moisture at most sites at four soil depths (5, 10, 20, and 40 cm) but got some improvements at Maqu site. The overestimation of soil moisture was mainly caused by the introduction of a dry surface layer‐based (DSL) soil evaporation resistance parameterization in CLM5.0, which improves the soil evaporation simulation over the TP, especially in the semiarid region. Moreover, we tried to distinguish the factors that affect the soil water and heat transfer in the models. The results showed that soil property data play a main role in soil water and heat transfer modeling.
Drosophila schmidti Duda: redescription et iconographie des genitalia (Diptera, Drosophilidae)

Το eίδος Drosophila schmidti Duda δeν έχeι ξαναβρeθeί από τότe που πeριeγράφη το 1924. Τα γeννητικά του όργανα, κυριότeρος διαγνωστικός χαρακτήρας του eίδους, δeν eίχαν ποτέ πeριγραφeί και σχeδιασθeί. Δίνονται eδώ μια νέα λeπτομeρeιακή πeριγραφή και σχέδια των γeννητικών οργάνων του άρρeνος και του ωοθέτου. Eξeτάζeται τeλικά η τοποθέτηση του eίδους σe ένα από τα υπογένη του γένους Drosophila.
Modified listening group method as a knowledge-sharing and learning mechanism in agricultural communities in the Philippines

ABSTRACT Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore if the modified listening group method that originated in Canada can enhance learning and sharing amongst farmers in a group learning setup. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study, participated in by 111 rice farmers, was conducted in Farmer Field School sites of PhilRice in the provinces of Agusan Del Sur, Bohol, Ilocos Norte, Negros Occidental, and Tarlac. It employed a quasi-experimental research design. Findings: Overall, we found that the modified listening group method enables learning of technical concepts and provides avenues for farmers to collectively forward their agenda to the government. Taking on a more critical approach, however, and moving this research forward, we argue that there is a need to scrutinise the types of knowledge shared and muted during the course of exchanges amongst farmers. Several questions relating to power relations in knowledge-sharing are advanced in this research. Theoretical Implications: This paper contributes to addressing the dearth of studies from developing countries on the use of listening groups in agricultural extension. Practical Implications: The study explores and offers a cost-effective strategy to enhance learning and sharing in a group learning setup amongst farmers. Originality/Value: The study explored how an old advisory method like the listening groups may be revived and modified to facilitate learning in a group learning setup.
Antibacterial and Anti-inflammatory Activities of Galls and Leaves from Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del. (Balanitaceae)

Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory potentials of galls and leaves from Balanites aegyptiaca in vitro. Methods: Antibacterial activity was tested on 13 bacteria strains using the discdiffusion and broth micro-dilution methods. In assessing anti-inflammatory activity the lipoxygenase inhibitory assays was used. Results: About of 13 bacteria used, the best antibacterial activities were found with dichloromethane fraction (DCMF) of galls and ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) of leaves. Ours finding was that Bacillus cereus and Salmonella enterica which showed resistances to Ampicillin were found to be the most susceptible bacteria to DCMF obtained from B. aegyptiaca galls. The study also showed that B. aegyptiaca galls and leaves fractions exhibited an interesting lipoxygenase inhibitory activity comparatively to the quercetin and this activity did correlate to phenolic compounds identified in the galls and leaves samples. Conclusion: This study could justify the traditional used of B. aegyptiaca for the treatment of skin disease, tape worm infection, stomach trouble, amoebic dysentery and rheumatism.