Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selected Macroeconomic Indicators and Stock Market Performance in a Developing Economy: A Case for the Nigeria Stock Exchange Market

: The question of whether or not stock prices can be predicted by macroeconomic indicators in an economy is of serious concern both to the academics as well as the practitioners all over the world. There have been controversies among scholars, researchers and finance professionals with regards to what triggers the movement in the stock prices and it is against this backdrop, that this study investigated the effect of some selected macroeconomic indicators on stock market performance in a developing economy using Nigeria Stock Exchange Market as its case study with specific objectives. ARDL model helps to estimate the level of impact that one variable has on the other using E-views 10 statistical software. Result found that ASI was found to be negative for the current year and one year lag period while INF was equally negative and is insignificant for the current year and the previous year, while in the long run, Inflation Rate showed a positive relationship with ASI, but insignificant at 5% level of significance. On the other hand, the long run estimates of M2 had a positive relationship with ASI in the long run and also shows to be a significant contributor to All Share Index at 5% level of significance while RGDP had a negative relationship with All Share Index and also significant in the long run. Furthermore, EXCR was found to be negative for the current year, also in the previous year and lag 2 period while in the long run, EXCR had a positive relationship with ASI while RINTR was positively and significantly impacting ASI in the current year even though it negatively impacted on ASI in the previous year’s i.e. lag one and lag 2 and finally, Real Lending Rate was found to have a positive relationship with All Share Index in the long run but statistically insignificant at 5% level of significance and based on this findings, they study recommended the following; the CBN should through their monetary and fiscal policy implement actions that would ensure interest rate stability and prevent frequent increase in rates which has potentials to distort stock market activities in Nigeria and also must continue to pursue policies that would promote stable exchange rates and also attract foreign capital inflow that would ensure regular supply of forex. average value of the sample. Standard deviation is the positive square root of variance. It is a measure of dispersion, that is, it shows the extent of the deviation from the mean. Skewness, kurtosis and Jarque-Bera show the normality of the distribution. A distribution is said to be normal when skewness is approximately zero and kurtosis is three. Also the probability of the Jarque-Bera statistics tells whether the distribution is normal or not. The null hypothesis of the Jarque-Bera test says that the distribution is a normal one. Therefore if the probability is less than 0.05, we reject the null
Novel 3D segmentation for reliable volumetric assessment of the nasal airway: a CBCT study.

OBJECTIVE Nasal airway obstruction affects up to one-third of Americans and is one of the most common complaints by patients to otolaryngologists. Nasal airway obstruction and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) are closely related. The aim of this study was to use the 3D imaging software, ITK-SNAP as a platform to define a gold standard for anatomically accurate boundaries of the nasal airway in 3D CBCT and to create a more reliable and precise 3D CBCT segmentation of the nasal airway for assisting diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of nasal airway obstruction and OSAS. METHOD AND MATERIALS After review of the literature to identify established parameters using CBCT and CT technology for the segmentation of the nasal airway, and the existing drawbacks, a gold standard for locating the anatomical boundaries of the nasal airway using CBCT is proposed. This new method aims at standardization of segmentation and quantification, allowing for more reliable comparison between studies. ITK-SNAP software was used to segment three CBCT samples of healthy patients aged 21 to 59 years, who were patients of record, with CBCT obtained for either orthodontic, endodontic, or prosthodontic treatment planning purposes. RESULTS The literature search identified 11 studies describing nasal airway parameters utilizing CBCT and CT. A great variation was detected on where the anatomical boundaries for the nasal airway were selected. A new standard in the identification of anatomical boundaries of the nasal airway is proposed for consistent segmentation and quantification using 3D CBCT by using the following landmarks: the inferior ANS-PNS border, the anterior nares border, the posterior sella-PNS border, and superiorly the border in alignment with the base of the skull (excluding the ostia, frontal, ethmoidal, and sphenoidal air cells). The three segmented samples were volumetrically measured, and statistically analyzed. The mean average Hounsfield unit intensity using the CBCT samples in this study was 629 with a standard deviation of 190. CONCLUSION The literature indicates a lack of a gold standard using CBCT technology for the segmentation of the nasal airway. With the proposed standard in this study, it is possible to quantify the nasal airway volume and thereby its reduction. For the general dental practitioner, this is an important aspect during the evaluation of overall airway assessment. This information can be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of airway compromised dental patients.
Fatty Acid Profiles from Routine Milk Recording as a Decision Tool for Body Weight Change of Dairy Cows after Calving

Simple Summary Dairy cows mobilize their body reserves to maintain milk production after parturition. If excessive, this may be detrimental for their health and reproduction performance. Detecting cows with an important bodyweight loss early on is essential to treat or manage these cows accordingly. Routine milk recording samples were used to develop a prediction model for early lactation body reserve mobilization in commercial dairy farms using a machine-learning approach. Bodyweight loss was mainly explained by decreased short-chain fatty acids and increased C18:0 fatty acids in milk. An early warning system for cows with an important bodyweight loss may be implemented routinely. Abstract Cows mobilize body reserves during early lactation, which is reflected in the milk fatty acid (FA) profile. Milk FA can be routinely predicted by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and be, thus, used to develop an early indicator for bodyweight change (BWC) in early lactating cows in commercial dairy farms. Cow records from 165 herds in Denmark between 2015 and 2017 were used with bodyweight (BW) records at each milking from floor scales in automatic milking systems. Milk FA in monthly test-day samples was predicted by FTIR. Predictions of BWC were based on a random forest model and included parity, stage of lactation, and test day milk production and components (fat, protein, and FA). Bodyweight loss was mainly explained by decreased short-chain FA (C4:0–C10:0) and increased C18:0 FA. The root mean square error (RMSE) of prediction after cross-validation was 1.79 g/kg of BW (R2 of 0.94). Model evaluation with previously unseen BWC records resulted in reduced prediction performance (RMSE of 2.33 g/kg of BW; R2 of 0.31). An early warning system may be implemented for cows with a large BW loss during early lactation based on milk FA profiles, but model performance should be improved, ideally by using the full FTIR milk spectra.
Assessment of respiratory muscles and motor function in children with SMA treated by nusinersen

Nusinersen is associated with an improvement in motor function in children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) but data on respiratory muscles strength are scarce. Respiratory muscles performance and lung function were evaluated in children with SMA 1c and 2 after six injections of nusinersen (M14). Results from patients with SMA2 were compared with data of age‐matched historical controls. Motor function tests (MFM and HINE‐2) were assessed at baseline and M14 in the treated patients.
THE APPLICATION OF THE LEARNING STRATEGY TO IMPROVE THE SPEAKING SKILL OF THE SECOND GRADE STUDENTS AT SMA UII YOGYAKARTA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012

The objectives of this study were to identify the problems of the second grade students in speaking English and to discover the effective steps of the learning strategy to improve the speaking skill of the second grade students at SMA UII in the academic year 2011/2012. This study applied a classroom action research and was conducted in two cycles consisting of planning, acting, observing, evaluating, and reflecting. Subjects of the research were the second grade students of SMA UII in the academic year 2011/2012. Data collecting techniques used were observation, interview, diary and speaking test. Data analysis techniques used were descriptive analysis. Based on the research, there were four strategies applied in cycle I, i.e., the strategies of asking for clarification or verification, grouping, repeating and placing new words into a context. The result of strategies application in cycle I gave positive and negative responses that it did not give much significance to the students‟ speaking skill. The highest speaking score of the students in cycle I was 18. Therefore, revision was done. There were two strategies that must be revised in cycle II, which were the strategies of grouping and repeating. As the revision was done in cycle II, students showed positive response and gave significant improvement to the students‟ speaking skill. The highest speaking score of the students in cycle II was 27. Thus, it can be concluded that the learning strategy is successfully implemented and improves the speaking skill of the second grade students at SMA UII in the academic year 2011/2012. Keyword: Learning Strategy, speaking ability, students, significance, and response.
Facile method for screening clinical T cell receptors for off-target peptide-HLA reactivity

T cell receptors (TCRs) exhibit varying degrees of cross-reactivity for peptides presented by the human leukocyte antigen (HLA). In engineered T cell therapies, TCR affinity maturation is a strategy to improve the sensitivity and potency to often a low-density peptide-HLA (pHLA) target. However, the process of affinity maturation towards a known pHLA complex can introduce new and untoward cross-reactivities that are difficult to detect and raises significant safety concerns. We developed a yeast-display platform of pHLA consisting of ~100 million different 9mer peptides presented by HLA-A*01 and used a previously established selection approach to validate the specificity and cross-reactivity of the A3A TCR, an affinity-matured TCR against the MAGE-A3 target (EVDPIGHLY). We were able to identify reactivity against the titin peptide (ESDPIVAQY), to which there is now known clinical toxicity. We propose the use of yeast-display of pHLA libraries to determine cross-reactive profiles of candidate clinical TCRs to ensure safety and pHLA specificity of natural and affinity-matured TCRs.
Alimentation de puissance d'une lampe exciplexe à décharge à barrière diélectrique, en vue du contrôle du rayonnement

Ce travail presente une approche raisonnee pour alimenter en energie electrique une lampe exciplexe a decharge a barriere dielectrique, en vue du controle du rayonnement UV produit. Un modele electrique de la lampe a ete developpe et identifie, permettant d'etudier les interactions alimentation-lampe. Ce modele est egalement utilise pour effectuer la synthese des structures candidates du convertisseur ; celles-ci, procedent a un controle direct du courant dans la lampe. Une etude experimentale a ete menee afin de valider l'approche theorique. Les degres de liberte apportes par le reglage des convertisseurs sont exploites, pour analyser la correlation entre le courant du gaz et le rayonnement UV.
Do Students Who Complete an Online Preparedness Program have Higher Success Rates in Online Courses

ZHENG, YAXIN. Do Students Who Complete an Online Preparedness Program have Higher Success Rates in Online Courses? (Under the direction of Drs. Duane Akroyd and Susan J. Barcinas). The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the importance of online student success and to investigate the effect of an online student preparedness program on student success. This study was a quasi-experimental research design using quantitative analytic methods. Descriptive statistics summarized respondent characteristics. OLS regression with the Difference-in-difference method in conjunction with propensity score matching was used to determine online student learning outcomes (GPA and completion status) before and after the start of the online student preparedness program (ELI program). An interrupted time-series model was implemented to capture the course level changes on online course success rates under the effect of the ELI program. This study confirmed a positive relationship between the ELI program and online students’ GPA and course completion rates. Furthermore, the course level analysis indicated that online course success rates improved after the start of the ELI program and continued to improve. These analyses provide strong evidence of the positive impact of an online course preparedness program on online student success, which is consistent with prior studies on the benefits of implementing an online orientation/preparedness program to help students acquire the skills, computer literacy, and navigate online course components. © Copyright 2020 Yaxin Zheng All Rights Reserved Do Students Who Complete an Online Preparedness Program have Higher Success Rates in Online Courses?
Predicting Protein Localization Sites Using an Ensemble Self-Labeled Framework

In recent years machine learning has been thoroughly used in the bioinformatics and biomedical field. The prediction of cellular localization of the proteins can be considered very significant task in bioinformatics since wrong localization site can cause various diseases and infections to humans. Ensemble learning algorithms and semi-supervised algorithms have been independently developed to build efficient and robust classification models. In this paper we focus on the prediction of protein localization site in Escherichia Coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae organisms utilizing a semi-supervised self-labeled algorithm based on ensemble methodologies. The experimental results showed the efficiency of our proposed algorithm compared against state-of-the-art
An Empirical Study on the Factors Affecting Online Retail Brand Engagement and Purchase Intention

The Consumer buying criterion has reformed massively in this present digitized marketing environment. The growing importance & popularity of online buying is very much substantial and quite evident in India these days. This study attempts to investigate the relationships between brand trust, social linkages, brand awareness, online retail brand engagement and final brand selection & purchase intention. The current research also examined the linkages among brand trust, social linkages, brand awareness and online retail brand engagement and in creating the final brand selection & purchase intention relating to Indian online retail market. Data from 252 observations were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method. The outcome of this research paper shows how an effective online retail brand engagement environment can be created to boost the final brand selection & purchase intention in the Indian online market place.
Forty-Eight Years of Forest Succession: Tree Species Change across Four Forest Types in Mid-Missouri

In the central and eastern United States, many forest ecosystems have undergone recent shifts in composition and structure that may conflict with contemporary management objectives. Long-term forest inventory data were used to determine patterns of forest succession over a 48-year period for four forest types in mid-Missouri: bottomlands, dry ridge and slope, glade-like, and mesic slopes. All forest types increased in stand basal area and overstory quadratic mean diameter through time, with concomitant decreases in the number of midstory trees. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) increased in importance value on dry ridge and slope and mesic slope forest types, largely due to the accumulation of trees in smaller diameter classes. White oak (Quercus alba L.) increased in overstory basal area in dry ridge and slope plots through the duration of the study, whereas black oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) and Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii Buckley) decreased in overstory density and basal area through time. Oak stems were nearly absent from the midstory across forest types in the recent sampling, suggesting future challenges for maintaining oak-dominated canopies following attrition of canopy trees through time on upland forest types. In glade-like plots, eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) increased in both overstory density and basal area through time, and Shumard oak decreased in density. The importance value of chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii Engelm.) in the overstory decreased through time in glade-like plots, largely due to the increase in density of eastern redcedar rather than the loss of chinkapin oak from the overstory. The patterns of succession in this forest landscape of mid-Missouri suggest that forest management may be needed to address two common contemporary concerns: (1) the need for increasing oak advance reproduction and recruitment to maintain oak as a canopy species; and (2) reducing eastern redcedar encroachment for glade restoration and management.
Electronic Nose for Monitoring Odor Changes of Lactobacillus Species during Milk Fermentation and Rapid Selection of Probiotic Candidates

Probiotic bacteria have been associated with a unique production of aroma compounds in fermented foods but rapid methods for discriminating between foods containing probiotic, moderately probiotic, or non-probiotic bacteria remain aloof. An electronic nose (e-nose) is a high-sensitivity instrument capable of non-invasive volatile measurements of foods. In our study, we applied the e-nose to differentiate probiotic, moderately probiotic, and non-probiotic Lactobacillus bacteria strains at different fermentation time points (0th, 4th, and 11th) of milk fermentation. The pH of the changing milk medium was monitored with their corresponding increase in microbial cell counts. An e-nose with two gas chromatographic columns was used to develop classification models for the different bacteria groups and time points and to monitor the formation of the aromatic compounds during the fermentation process. Results of the e-nose showed good classification accuracy of the different bacteria groups at the 0th (74.44% for column 1 and 82.78% for column 2), the 4th (89.44% for column 1 and 92.22% for column 2), and the 11th (81.67% for column 1 and 81.67% for column 2) hour of fermentation. The loading vectors of the classification models showed the importance of some specific aroma compounds formed during the fermentation. Results show that aroma monitoring of the fermentation process with the e-nose is a promising and reliable analytical method for the rapid classification of bacteria strains according to their probiotic activity and for the monitoring of aroma changes during the fermentation process.
Outcomes after Endoscopic Dacryocystorhinostomy in the Pediatric Population

Introduction: A growing body of evidence demonstrates that endonasal endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (eDCR) techniques provide comparable results to conventional external techniques in the adult population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate safety and outcomes of powered endoscopic DCR for the management of nasolacrimal duct obstruction in the pediatric population. Methods: A retrospective review was performed of pediatric patients with epiphora secondary to both congenital and acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction who underwent endoscopic DCR from August 2016 to July 2019 at a tertiary referral medical center. Operative and post-operative safety was assessed by intraoperative complications and post-operative pain requiring additional analgesia, crusting, bleeding, and revision rates. Main outcome measures were subjective improvement in epiphora and assessment of anatomic patency based on endoscopic evaluation. Results: A total of 22 patients (age 9.14 years; 55% female), totaling 25 primary procedures, were available at a mean follow-up of 15 (range 12 – 22) months. There were no operative or post-operative safety issues. At the most recent follow up, mild intermittent postoperative epiphora or complete resolution of epiphora was noted in 100% (25/25) of procedures; complete resolution was recorded in 92% (23/25) of procedures. Anatomic patency based on endoscopic evaluation was noted in 100% (25/25) of procedures. 0% (0/22) of patients required revision DCR. Conclusion: Results of endoscopic DCR in the pediatric population compare favorably to previously reported outcomes of success rate of adults. These results suggest consistent long-term relief of epiphora without additional risk of complication.
The voice of an EFL teacher before, during and after adapting a syllabus in a group of 9th graders

El proposito de esta investigacion fue describir las experiencias de ensenanza, las percepciones y las reflexiones de una docente de ingles de noveno grado en una escuela publica de Cucuta, Norte de Santander, la cual estaba pasando por un proceso de adaptacion en el plan de aula de ingles. teniendo en cuenta los principios metodologicos y pedagogicos propuestos por el Ministerio de Educacion Nacional (MEN) y tambien los documentos propuestos por la institucion educativa de acuerdo a las caracteristicas de la poblacion estudiantil. El diseno de este estudio fue la investigacion narrativa, ya que la intencion era conocer la narrativa de un profesor de ingles en medio de un proceso de adaptacion. Las observaciones no participantes y las entrevistas semi-estructuradas fueron una fuente de recopilacion de datos para lograr el objetivo. Para concluir, sobre las percepciones de la docente sobre lo propuesto por MEN (2016) influyeron en el proceso de adaptacion. Por lo tanto, los materiales y actividades que la maestra adapto se hicieron desde esas percepciones, ella adapto lo que se propuso en el plan de aula para este grado se contextualizo para lograr resultados positivos, consiguiendo mayor motivacion por parte de los estudiantes debido a la aplicacion del enfoque metodologico Ensenanza Basada en Tareas (TBLT) sugerido por el MEN (2016).
Eleven strategies for getting into graduate school in ecology & evolutionary biology

Getting into graduate school can be tough if you have not done your homework. I outline eleven strategies for increasing your chances of successfully being accepted into an ecology or evolutionary biology lab. Try to get good grades as an undergraduate, do well on the Graduate Record Exam (if applicable), join a lab reading group or undertake an undergraduate thesis, take time to forge relationships so you can have strong reference writers, obtain relevant work experience, author a publication, read peer-reviewed literature, attend national meetings, come up with some good research ideas, develop a relationship with a potential advisor, and apply to at least ten schools. If you follow these strategies, you have a high probability of getting into graduate school in ecology and evolutionary biology.