Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Important Factors Influencing the Implementation of Independent Port State Control Regimes

This study investigated the factors influencing the implementation of a port state control (PSC) system. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was employed to develop a framework including 4 dimensions and 14 factors for assessing the priority of the major factors and subfactors. An expert questionnaire was conducted in Taiwan. The priority levels of the factors in influencing PSC operation are presented herein. In addition, conclusions were derived from an empirical case study of Taiwan. Some challenges are also discussed to reveal the common problems and special difficulties faced by independent PSC regimes that remain excluded from regional memoranda of understanding.
Detection and characterisation of carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacilli infections in Ghana

In Ghana, little is known about the nature and spread of carbapenemases in carbapenemresistant (CR) pathogens. The aims of the present study were to detect carbapenemase activity by using simple phenotypic tests, molecular typing to characterise the resistance genes and to determine the relatedness of the CR isolates collected from different hospitals in the country. A total of 111 CR isolates were identified by disc diffusion susceptibility testing and the MIC E-test method. Phenotype-based methods including the modified Hodge test, boronic acid-disc synergy test, nitrocefin assays, plasmid analysis and sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the expression of the outer membrane protein were performed for each of the CR isolates. Amplified DNA products were examined for common ESBL encoding genes (blaTEM-1 and blaSHV-1) and carbapenemase resistance genes (blaKPC-1, blaIMP-1, blaNDM-1, blaVIM-1 and blaOXA-48). Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) by PCR technique was used to establish the relatedness of isolates. Overall, a carbapenem-resistant prevalence of 2.9% (111 of 3840) was detected from the total of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. In MIC E-test assays, 56.8% of CR isolates showed complete resistance to imipenem, meropenem and ertapenem at ≥32 μg/ml, of which 24.3% were found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates and 18.9% in Acinetobacter baumannii isolates. In all, no KPC-1 and IMP-1 genes were detected. Carbapenemase genes identified were blaNDM-1 in Acinetobacter baumannii isolates, blaVIM-1 in Pseudomonas species and blaOXA-48 was only present in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. None of the carbapenemase-positive gene carriers harboured two xviii or more of carbapenemase resistance genes. Transfer experiments revealed the possible spread of the resistance genes from pathogens to commensal organisms by conjugation. Close relatedness with co-occurrence of oprD loss was detected among a small number of carbapenemase resistance gene carrying isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii. This is the first report of the detection and characterisation of carbapenemase resistance genes in Ghana.
Aging in America

Today in the United States, older adults are the fastest growing segment of the population. By definition, older adults are all individuals 65 years and older, as well as adults 50 to 64 years old who have clinically significant functional limitations and/or a chronic condition (1). Growing older technically begins at birth. However, in fitness and health, we tend to operationalize “growing older” by either the time in life when we pass our peak function or when noticeable declines in functional ability begin to arise. The declines noted with advancing age are both structural and functional, even in the absence of any disease states. These declines result in reduced functional capacity and reduced strength, as well as alterations inmuscle mass and function (1–3). Therefore, the cumulative effects of age-related decline can lead to older adults with decreased ability to engage in common activities of daily living and/or prevent individuals from living independently (1,2). Increasing age also is often associated with increased risk of several chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and type 2 diabetes, resulting in an increased burden on the U.S. health care system (1–4). In fact, older adults generate the highest expenditure of medical care costs in our country, with theMedical Expenditure Panel Survey reporting amean expenditure of approximately $11,500 per person in 2017 for adults 65 years and older (1–5). Furthermore, the aging process is complex and involves primary and secondary processes along with certain genetic factors. Primary processes and genetic factors
Investigating Elastic Anisotropy of 4H-SiC Using Ultra-High Q Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonators

Hexagonal 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is a transversely isotropic substrate garnering interest for precision MEMS devices such as resonant gyroscopes. This paper investigates the elastic anisotropy of 4H-SiC by utilizing capacitive bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators with ultra-high mechanical quality factors (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) enabled by phononic crystals. We directly measure the value of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C_{66}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> using Lamé mode resonators for the first time and numerically fit the values of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C_{11}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$C_{12}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> using BAW elliptical modes in center-supported solid disk resonators. We compare (0 0 0 1) 4H-SiC to (1 1 1) Si, another in-plane isotropic material and validate (0 0 0 1) 4H-SiC’s superior robustness to fabrication and design variations. Measurement of in-plane BAW elliptical modes in multiple disk resonators with as-born frequency splits as low as 3 ppm reveal (0 0 0 1) 4H-SiC’s transverse isotropy across process corners. Lamé mode resonators display a temperature coefficient of frequency (TCF) three times lower compared to its Si counterpart. Finally, this paper provides a modified set of elastic constants for 4H-SiC with a view towards monocrystalline SiC MEMS devices. [2020-0254]
Effects of pre-slaughter sheep handling and animal-related factors on creatine kinase levels and physico-chemical attributes of mutton

iii List of abbreviations v Dedication vii Acknowledgements viii List of Tables xiii List of Figures xiv Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.2 Problem statement . 4 1.3 Justification . 4 1.4 Objective . 5 1.5 Hypothesis . 6 1.6 References 7 Chapter 2: Literature Review 11 2.
Alternativas del establecimiento in vitro en la micropropagación de la Guana

Alternative of the in vitro establishment in the micropropagation of the Guana. An alternative that should be exploited in forest species, to achieve high volums of plants and to establish improved plantations, is the employment of biotechnical methods. Guana ( Hildegardia cubensis Urb.) is a threatened species. In Las Tunas are few the wild trees of this species. The pruning for to take advantage of their fibers and theexistence of free livestock in the forestry areas contribute to a reduction every time bigger than their populations. For this reason it has looked for alternatives of propagation of this species in massive form. For the present study a plant was used that gathered the established requirements as donor plant, the seeds were tooked and cutting of where apexes were extracted and nodal segments, with the purpose of defining some alternatives of the one in vitro establishment. Two experiments were carried out: the establishment of apexes and nodal segments together to different methods of disinfection of the explant and the establishment starting from seeds germinated in vitro . It was proven that to the one to use apexes treated with NaOCl the best results was obtained as for the microbial contamination and the formation of buds in the explants. Starting from seeds germinated in vitro the best results were obtained when using HgCl 2 to 0.25%. Key words: disinfection, forest, in vitro propagation
INTEREST RATE LIBERALIZATION TO BANK’S RISK RESISTANCE: MODERATOR OF STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND MEDIATOR OF MONETARY POLICY TRANSMISSION

Purpose: Most prior studies on interest rate liberalization focused on banking system reforms and technological reforms, as well as liberalization’s impact on the profitability of commercial banks. Rarely considered were the effects of monetary policy or management’s leadership ability. This paper aims to investigate the influence of these two missing aspects and to explore whether or not such liberalization has had any influence on commercial banks’ risk resistance capacity and, if so, to identify the nature of that influence. Methodology: This article considers 18 commercial banks in China, operating from 2003 to 2018. Analyses include descriptive statistics, the Sobel test, the ADF stationarity test, and the VAR model co-integration test. Main Findings: Our results show that China’s interest rate marketization reform has a net positive effect on reducing bank risk, despite the new risks created by reform. Commercial bank anti-risk capabilities were also found to be improved both by China's monetary policy transmission for interest rate liberalization and by the strategic leadership capabilities of individual bank managers. Results: Based on these research results, this article encourages the Chinese government to strengthen appropriate laws and regulations to reduce the bankruptcy risk of commercial banks during interest rate liberalization. Commercial banks should build competent risk management teams with the ability to anticipate risks to allow their banks to better resist the disadvantages of interest rate liberalization reforms. Application: Based on these research results, this article can provide insights for the Chinese government, showing that appropriate laws and regulations should be strengthened to reduce the risk of bankruptcy that commercial banks may face as a consequence of interest rate liberalization. Originality/Value: This paper contributes to the theory of interest rate liberalization and anti-risk capability of commercial banks, by conceptualizing new constructs from strategic leadership and monetary policy transmission theory. It finds that market-oriented rate reform has increased interest rate risk and complicated the term structure. Commercial banks should, therefore, improve their operational management capabilities and optimize their internal governance decision-making mechanisms.
Evaluation of Cloud and Precipitation Response to Aerosols in WRF‐Chem With Satellite Observations

Large uncertainties remain in the key physical processes associated with aerosol‐cloud interactions (ACI) in models. With the help of A‐Train satellite observations, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with chemistry (WRF‐Chem) model with two microphysical schemes, Morrison (MOR) and Lin (LIN), is evaluated by quantifying the susceptibilities of cloud properties, precipitation characteristics, and warm rain process to aerosols for marine stratocumulus over the Southeast Pacific. We reduced the meteorological control on clouds by stratifying them using cloud geometric thickness. Our results show that while the cloud fraction increases with increasing cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) in observation and simulations, the susceptibility of cloud fraction to Nd in simulations are only half of that in the observation. The cloud liquid water path increases with Nd in simulations but decreases slightly in the observation. Compared with the observations, the warm rain in WRF‐Chem simulations is generally less suppressed by aerosols, and it initiates at a much smaller cloud droplet effective radius (Re). The conversion from cloud to rain is substantially faster in simulations compared to satellite observations. The conversion rate accelerates at Re ≈ 13 μm in observations and at Re ≈ 9 μm in simulations.
Broad sense heritability and genetic advance for grain yield and yield components of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes in western Ethiopia

Genetic variability is a prerequisite to crop improvement. The objective of the present study was to assess and quantify the genetic variability, estimate heritability and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing characters of released and pipeline chickpea varieties based on agro- morphological traits. A total of 16 chickpea materials (8 improved varieties, 7 advanced lines, and one local check) were planted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications at Shambu, Hawa Galan, Mata, Alaku Belle, and Badesso, in Western Ethiopia. Important agronomic data were collected and subjected to analysis using statistical analysis software (SAS). The combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated highly significant differences (P≤0.01) among chickpea genotypes for grain yield and other agronomic traits except for number of seed per pod and branch per plant, indicating the existence of ample genetic variability among present chickpea genotypes. Genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) for the character such as grain filling duration, days to flowering and hundred seed weight, showed very small difference demonstrating that the observed variations for these traits were mostly due to genetic factors with little impact of environment. The higher heritability coupled with higher genetic advance was noted for 100 seed weight, number of pods per plant, number of seed per pod and grain yield signifying the ease of phenotype-based selection for the improvement of those traits. Key words: Chickpea (Cicer airetinum L.), genetic variability, phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), selection.
Named Entity Recognition for the Horticultural Domain

Named Entity Recognition (NER) is one of the fundamental tasks in natural language processing and knowledge engineering, as well as a prerequisite step of many downstream applications. Horticulture, a major branch of agricultural science, means the cultivation, processing, and sale of fruit, nuts, vegetables, and ornamental plants as well as numerous additional services. NER for the horticulture domain means to find key biological traits and state-of-art experimental methods for the horticulturists, new cultivation methods and useful tools for farmers, as well as other important information for planners and policy makers to trigger decision-making procedures. In this paper we designed an NER tagging-set of 7 fine-grained types, and since there is no publicly shared annotated corpus available in horticulture domain, we constructed training and testing corpora manually. Thus, we realized Horticulture NER in scientific literature abstracts with CRF method. Results showed that our system’s accuracy and precision were satisfactory but still have room for improvement.
Joint Message-Passing and Convex Optimization Framework for Energy-Efficient Surveillance UAV Scheduling

In modern surveillance systems, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been actively discussed in order to extend target monitoring areas, even for an extreme circumstances. This paper proposes an energy-efficient UAV-based surveillance system that operates from two different sequential methods. First, the proposed algorithm pursues energy-efficient operations by deactivating selected surveillance cameras on the UAVs located in overlapping areas. For this objective, a message-passing based algorithm is used because the overlapping situations can be formulated using a max-weight independent set. Next, the unscheduled UAVs based on the message-passing fly to the charging towers to be charged. This algorithm computes the optimal matching between the UAVs and charging towers and the amount of energy allocation for the scheduled UAV-tower pairs. This joint optimization is initially formulated as non-convex, and it is then reformulated to be convex, which can guarantee optimal solutions. The proposed framework achieves the desired performance, as presented in the performance evaluation.
Incidencia de cuadros patológicos asociados al género Microcystis en el lago de Zirahuén

El genero Microcystis ha sido un factor de atencion en todo el mundo por su capacidad de generar floraciones toxicas al producir microcistinas. El principal riesgo toxico deriva de su actividad promotora tumoral, y su capacidad genotoxica, ademas de padecimientos hepaticos, gastroentericos, respiratorios, dermicos e inflamatorios. En el lago de Zirahuen el cianoprocarionte ha desarrollado en la ultima decada floraciones toxicas que han impactado a la salud publica. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue monitorear la distribucion espacial del genero Microcystis en un ciclo trianual y determinar su relacion con la incidencia de enfermedades hepaticas, gastroentericas, respiratorias, dermicas y localizadas. Se revisaron muestras provenientes de seis sitios del Lago de Zirahuen en el municipio de Salvador Escalante, las cuales se obtuvieron en verano en tres profundidades durante un periodo trianual (2013-2015), con botella de Van Dorn y una red conica de 39 micrometros. Del analisis de 72 muestras se determinaron seis especies pertenecientes al genero Microcystis, de las cuales solo cuatro cepas son potencialmente toxicas. Se establece que de forma temporal las especies del genero indican diferencias significativas en la concentracion celular en la columna del agua. El analisis de componentes principales con base en correlaciones, permite delimitar como variables independientes a seis incidencias patologicas de las 53 registradas por el sector salud. Se establece que de los seis padecimientos seleccionados, la hepatitis aguda tipo “A” no presenta una relacion significativa con el biovolumen aportado por la concentracion celular del genero. Sin embargo, el coeficiente de correlacion de Spearman indica que algunas cepas mantienen una correlacion significativa con la incidencia de diarreas agudas, padecimientos gastrointestinales, asi como el desarrollo de otitis del tipo media.
Isolation and characterization of LoAMS gene in anther development of lily (Lilium oriental hybrids)

ABSTRACT Lily is one of the most valuable fresh cut flowers in the world. However, pollen pollution brings inconvenience to retailers and consumers. Anther development is a complicated and precise process but much is unknown. In this study, the anther development key gene LoAMS was isolated from Lilium Oriental Hybrids cultivar ‘Siberia’. Phylogenetic tree analysis and multiple sequence alignment showed that LoAMS protein had a typical basic helix–loop–helix domain (bHLH), belonging to the MYC transcription factor family. Furthermore, the subcellular localization experiment revealed that LoAMS was a nucleus protein. Transcriptional activation assays showed LoAMS was a transcriptional activator with the transcriptional activation domain in the last 204 amino acids (338-541aa) of the C-terminal region. The real-time quantitative PCR showed that LoAMS was abundant in lily anthers. Two peak expressions of LoAMS appeared in the anthers of 3-cm and 10-cm flower buds, especially in the microspores of 10-cm flower buds. These data indicate LoAMS is an anther specific transcriptional activator that may contribute to lily molecular breeding in the near future.
“The Media Covers Up a Lot of Things”: Watchdog Ideals Meet Folk Theories of Journalism

ABSTRACT The idealized view of the press as an institution that operates independently from private and political interests and tries to hold power to account is central to many journalists’ self-conception and extensive academic scholarship on news. Yet surveys find significant numbers of citizens reject such views about the role of news in society. This article draws on in-depth interviews with a strategic sample of 83 news avoiders in Spain and the UK to investigate “folk theories” about the relationship between news and politics. Instead of believing in the watchdog ideal, many saw the news media as, at best, irrelevant and, at worst, actively complicit with a distant and self-serving political and economic establishment. Many saw the news not as bringing important subjects to light, but as actively covering them up. The difference between professional and scholarly theories that stress the watchdog role on the one hand, and folk theories where this notion is completely absent on the other, highlights the specific cultural challenge journalism faces today. Cynicism about the role of news in society poses a problem that transcends the specific economic, political, and technological challenges that currently preoccupy many journalism professionals and institutions.
Determinación de genes que codifican la resistencia de betalactamasas de espectro extendido en bacilos Gram negativos aislados de urocultivos

Introduction: Extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL) are a group of enzymes that confers bacterial resistance to a wide spectrum of betalactam antibiotics. These are coded in plasmids and should be studied as surveillance tools to watch the behavior of microorganisms towards the use of antibiotics. Objective: To determine the resistance coding genes in gram-negative bacilli with ESBL phenotype isolated from urine cultures, in a health services institution in the department of Boyaca. Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out. Nineteen different strains with ESBL phenotype were identified, by following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI M100-S23) guidelines; and the microbiological identification concordance index was established. Through polimerase chain reaction (PCR) technique standardization, the presence of blaTEM, blaSHV, blaCTX, and Amp-C genes was determined for the 19 strains mentioned. Results: All of the nineteen strains with ESBL phenotype (100%) were found to be resistant to a mpiciline; 12 (63,2%) resistant to ampicilin sulbactam; 17 (89,5%) to cephalothin; 16 (84,2 %) to cefuroxime; 17 (89,5%) to cefotaxime; 17 (89,5%) to ceftriaxione, and 14 (73,7%) to cefepime. Gene amplification was performed on 18 isolates, 12 (61,11%) of them possibly presented the blaCTX gene; 10 (55,6%) the AmpC gene; 9 (50 %) the blaSHV gene, and 7 (38,88%) the blaTEM gene. Conclusion: The presence of blaCTX, AmpC, blaSHV, and blaTEM genes represents epidemiological importance, probably because of its capacity to mobilize genetic resistance information inside the hospitalary environment in which they have a clear epidemic potential.