Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mainstreaming Public Expenditure Budgetary Control Connectivity With Economic Growth of Nigeria

The failure of budgetary control system in measuring public expenditure performance that could drive the economic growth process despite huge sums of money being budgeted annually by the federal government, necessitates an urgent reappraisal of the impact of budgetary system on the economy of Nigeria . This study therefore examines the relationship between public expenditure budgetary control and economic growth in Nigeria by employing descriptive and expost-facto research designs, the study utilized secondary time series data sourced from various publications of central bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin and debt management board covering the period between 1980 and 2018 . Multi-regression models and Ordinary least square estimation approaches are adopted to subject the series to econometric assumptions compliance and hypotheses tests respectively to evaluate relationship among government capital and recurrent budgets , external debts and gross domestic product. Findings revealed significant connection existing among the focused variables respectively hence the study recommends, based on the findings, that adequate budgetary control policies matched with strong budget monitoring and implementation strategies be created by the federal government to ensure an inclusive and balanced sectorial contributions to economic growth and development devoid of undeserved sentiments.
A workload-based nonlinear approach for predicting available computing resources

: Performance degradation or system resource exhaustion can be attributed to inadequate computing resources as a result of software aging. In the real world, the workload of a web server varies with time, which will cause a nonlinear aging phenomenon. The nonlinear property often makes analysis and modelling dif ﬁ cult. Workload is one of the important factors in-ﬂ uencing the speed of aging. This paper quantitatively analyzes the workload-aging relation and proposes a framework for aging control under varying workloads. In addition, this paper proposes an approach that employs prior information of workloads to accurately forecast incoming system exhaustion. The workload data are used as a threshold to divide the system resource usage data into multiple sections, while in each section the workload data can be treated as a constant. Each section is described by an individual autoregression (AR) model. Compared with other AR models, the proposed approach can forecast the aging process with a higher accuracy.
People Walking Classification Using Automotive Radar

Automotive radars are able to guarantee high performances at the expenses of a relatively low cost, and recently their application has been extended to several fields in addition to the original one. In this paper we consider the use of this kind of radars to discriminate different types of people’s movements in a real context. To this end, we exploit two different maps obtained from radar, that is, a spectrogram and a range-Doppler map. Through the application of dimensionality reduction methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) algorithm, and the use of machine learning techniques we prove that is possible to classify with a very good precision people’s way of walking even employing commercial devices specifically designed for other purposes.
Machine Learning for Active Gravity Compensation in Robotics: Application to Neurological Rehabilitation Systems

Robotic rehabilitation for poststroke therapies is an emerging new domain of application for robotics with proven success stories and clinical studies. New robotic devices and software applications are hitting the market, with the aim of assisting specialists carrying out physical therapies and even patients exercising at home. Rehabilitation robots are designed to assist patients performing repetitive movements with their hemiparetic limbs to regain motion. A successful robotic device for rehabilitation demands high workspace and force feedback capabilities similar to a human physiotherapist. These desired features are usually achieved at the expense of other important requirements, such as transparency and backdrivability, degrading the overall human-machine interaction experience.
The effects of financial inclusion on agricultural productivity in Nigeria

Farmers are the largest group of financially excluded persons in Nigeria, thereby highlighting the supply shortfall in finance to agriculture in Nigeria. Availability of finance would go a long way in improving output and productivity in agriculture, and consequently help in reducing poverty. This study conducts an empirical investigation of the effects of financial inclusion on agricultural productivity in Nigeria. ,This study makes use of the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). This is a new data set on agricultural households which contains information on agricultural activities and various household activities, including banking, savings and insurance behaviour. Considering the data are such that there are observations for households over three time periods, the study exploits the time series and cross-section dimension of the data by using panel data estimation. ,The empirical results of the study show that financial inclusion, irrespective of how it is measured, has exerted positive and statistically significant effects on agricultural productivity in Nigeria. ,While considerable research has been conducted to examine how finance affects broad macroeconomic aggregates, little is known about the effects of finance at the household and individual level. It is important to explicitly account for financial inclusion when examining the effects of finance on individuals and households. This study improves on existing research and offers new insights into the effects of financial inclusion on the economic activities of agricultural households in Nigeria.
The entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae for mosquito control. Impact on the adult stage of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae and filariasis vector Culex quinquefasciatus

Fungal diseases in insects are common and widespread and can decimate their populations in spectacular epizootics. Virtually all insect orders are susceptible to fungal diseases, including Dipterans. Fungal pathogens such as Lagenidium, Coelomomyces and Culicinomyces are known to affect mosquito populations, and have been studied extensively. There are, however, many other fungi that infect and kill mosquitoes at the larval and/or adult stage. The discovery, in 1977, of the selective mosquito-pathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner israelensis (Bti) reduced interest in the search for other suitable biological control agents thereafter. In recent years interest in mosquito-killing fungi is reviving, mainly due to continuous and increasing levels of insecticide resistance and increasing global risk of mosquito-borne diseases. This review presents an update of published data on mosquito-pathogenic fungi and mosquito-pathogen interactions, covering 13 different fungal genera. Notwithstanding the potential of many fungi as mosquito control agents, only a handful have been commercialized and are marketed for use in abatement programmes. We argue that entomopathogenic fungi, both new and existing ones with improved efficacies may contribute to an expansion of the limited arsenal of effective mosquito control tools, and that they may contribute in a significant and sustainable manner to the control of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and filariasis.
Importance of nuclear quantum effects on the hydration of chloride ion

Path-integral ab initio molecular dynamics (PI-AIMD) calculations have been employed to probe the nature of chloride ion solvation in aqueous solution. Nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) are shown to weaken hydrogen bonding between the chloride anion and the solvation shell of water molecules. As a consequence, the disruptive effect of the anion on the solvent water structure is significantly reduced compared to what is found in the absence of NQEs. The chloride hydration structure obtained from PI-AIMD agrees well with information extracted from neutron scattering data. Inparticular, the observed satellite peak in the hydrogen-chloride-hydrogen triple angular distribution serves as a clear signature of NQEs. The present results suggest that NQEs are likely to play acrucial role in determining the structure of saline solutions.
Sounds on the Margins of Language at the Heart of Interaction

ABSTRACT What do people do with sniffs, lip-smacks, grunts, moans, sighs, whistles, and clicks, where these are not part of their language’s phonetic inventory? They use them, we shall show, as irreplaceable elements in performing all kinds of actions—from managing the structural flow of interaction to indexing states of mind and much more besides. In this introductory essay we outline the phonetic and embodied interactional underpinnings of language and argue that greater attention should be paid to its nonlexical elements. Data are in English and Estonian.
Confirmnet: Convolutional Firmnet and Application to Image Denoising and Inpainting

We address the problem of efficient convolutional sparse coding (CSC) and develop a non-convex-penalty-regularized CSC formulation, namely, minimax-concave CSC (MC2SC). MC2SC leads to an optimal sparse representation than the standard ℓ1-penalty based approach. In addition, suitable convergence guarantees can also be provided for MC2SC. We propose a convolutional iterative firm-thresholding algorithm (CIFTA) building on our previously proposed IFTA, and its deep-unfolded version, namely, convolutional-FirmNet (ConFirmNet). As an application, we develop the ConFirmNet based sparse autoencoder (ConFirmNet-SAE) for learning an application-specific convolutional dictionary, the applications being image denoising and inpainting. Further, we also show that training ConFirmNet-SAE with the Huber loss imparts robustness to outliers. It also turns out that ConFirmNet-SAE is robust to mismatch between training and test noise conditions than convolutional learned iterative soft-thresholding algorithm (LISTA).
The Impact of Green Information on the Participation Intention of Consumers in Online Recycling: An Experimental Study

The rapid growth of electronic waste around the world has led to increased recycling problems. With the development of information technology, e-commerce has become a new trend in electronic waste recycling. This research designs two experiments to study the effect mechanism of green information on participation intention (PI) for online recycling websites. We found that providing green information can increase the PI of consumers, including environmental knowledge of product recycling (EKPR) and environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR). Green perceived value (GPV) and green trust (GT) play mediating roles on the impact of green information on PI. In addition, the recycling platform reputation (RPR) plays a moderating role in the effect of ECSR on GT. Theoretical and managerial implications, along with avenues for future research, are discussed.
Effect of Long Term Application of Imbalanced and Balanced Fertilization on Soil Physical Properties in Vertisol under Rice Wheat Cropping System

India is the 2 nd most populated country in the world after China with a population of 17.74% of the total world population (www.worldmeters.info//). By 2025, India is going to be the world most populated country. In India, Rice (Oryza sativa L.) – wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping system covers about 12 million hectares (Tripathi et al., 2011) and it is the backbone of country’s food security with a yield potential of 8-12 t/ha/year (Ladha et al., 2012). Kumar et al., (2016), by 2030, the demand of total food grain will reach 311Mt involving 122 Mt of rice, 115 Mt of wheat, 47 Mt of coarse grains and 27 Mt of pulses. The use of unbalanced fertiliser leads to an unhealthy plants. Therefore, use of balanced proportions of fertilizer and in sufficient quantity is necessary. Application of balanced fertilisation improves HC, soil moisture International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 2 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Construction of functional brain connectivity networks from fMRI data with driving and modulatory inputs: an extended conditional Granger causality approach

We propose a numerical-based approach extending the conditional MVAR Granger causality (MVGC) analysis for the construction of directed connectivity networks in the presence of both exogenous/stimuli and modulatory inputs. The performance of the proposed scheme is validated using both synthetic stochastic data considering also the influence of haemodynamics latencies and a benchmark fMRI dataset related to the role of attention in the perception of visual motion. The particular fMRI dataset has been used in many studies to evaluate alternative model hypotheses using the Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) approach. Based on the use of the Bayes factor, we show that the obtained GC connectivity network compares well to a reference model that has been selected through DCM analysis among other candidate models. Thus, our findings suggest that the proposed scheme can be successfully used as a stand-alone or complementary to DCM approach to find directed causal connectivity patterns in task-related fMRI studies.
Thermal Pressurization Weakening in Laboratory Experiments

Thermal pressurization (TP) is expected to be a dominant frictional weakening mechanism during earthquakes. However, most of our understanding of TP relies on theoretical studies. Our experimental setup allows us to test the mechanical response of experimental faults under elevated confining and pore pressures in the laboratory using a rotary‐shear apparatus. We observe dynamic weakening by TP of water‐saturated faults in Frederick diabase sliding at subseismic slip rates of 2.5–5 mm/s under an effective normal stress of 25–50 MPa and effective confining pressure of 20–49 MPa. No other weakening mechanism is activated at these conditions in dry samples. The permeability of the samples is varied by heat treatment before each experiment, and the frictional behavior is tested by velocity‐stepping experiments. Dynamic weakening was investigated after both low and high total fault displacements. For low‐displacement samples: (1) the magnitude and rate of weakening increase as the sample permeability decreases and (2) frictional heating is limited during sliding. These observations are consistent with the expected behavior of TP from theory. Weakening of high‐displacement samples is similar in magnitude to low‐displacement faults, but with slower rates of weakening and less dilation. The difference in weakening of the high‐displacement samples may reflect changes in pore compressibility in the fault zone, which would have a significant effect on the frictional response during TP. The activation of TP at modest slip rates in these experiments supports the hypothesis that TP is an active, and likely dominant, dynamic weakening mechanism during earthquakes in the early stages of slip.
Response of Bermuda Lawn Grass (Cynodon dactylon) cv. Selection-1 to Various Doses of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilization

ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 2 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com A field trial was conducted during the period 2013 2015 to study the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus on growth and quality of Bermuda lawn grass (Cynodon dactylon) cv. Selection-1 and to determine the most suitable dose for establishment and maintenance of a quality lawn. In the present investigation three levels of nitrogen viz., 10, 20 and 30 g/m 2 , three levels of phosphorus viz., 5, 10 and 15 g/m 2 and a fixed dose of potassium viz., 5 g/m 2 were tried along with untreated control (viz., N0, P0 and K0) comprising of 10 different combinations. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were applied as urea (46.0 % N), single super phosphate (16.0 % P2O5), and muriate of potash (60.0 % K2O) respectively. The textural class of the soil of the experimental site was sandy loam with a pH of 5.82. The chemical analysis of the soil indicated that it contained 80 kg/ha available nitrogen 51 kg/ha available phosphorus, 517 kg/ha, exchangeable potassium and 1.34 % organic carbon. Stem cuttings of Bermuda turf were planted in the experimental plots with basal application of 200 g/m 2 vermicompost. Phosphorus was applied in a single dose along with 25 % each of N and Kafter three months of planting. Rest N and K were applied in three equal splits @ 25 % at three months interval. Observations were recorded on various growth and quality parameters. The result of the study revealed that significant differences existed among various treatments with respect to most of the parameters which recorded lowest values under untreated control viz., N0, P0 and K0 and increased with increasing doses of fertilizer and the maximum values were recorded with the highest dose of fertilizer treatment viz., 30-15-5 g of NPK/m 2 . Parameters like dry weight of clipping, number of leaves per clipping lot, leaf area of individual leaf blade, total leaf area per clipping lot and verdure dry weight showed significant improvement under the highest dose of fertilizer viz., 30-15-5 g NPK/m 2 over control viz., N0, P0 and K0 during all the observations and other lower doses of fertilizer during most of the observations recorded at different times. Although leaf nitrogen content of verdure was higher under fertilizer treatments over control, no significant variation was noticed among various treatments. Based on the result it was concluded that a dose of 30-15-5 of NPK/m 2 was the most suitable dose for establishment and maintenance of a quality lawn developed from Bermuda lawn grass, cv.Selection-1. K e y w o r d s Bermuda lawn grass, Turf, Dry weight of clipping, Verdure dry weight, Leaf area, Leaf nitrogen Accepted: 15 January 2020
Effet des nutriments énergétiques sur la production et la teneur en matière grasse du lait de vache

Les recents changements des donnees economiques concernant le marche et les possibilites de valorisation de la matiere grasse laitiere conduisent a penser qu'a l'avenir la production d'un lait un peu moins riche en matieres grasses a de fortes chances d'etre encouragee. Cela peut etre atteint par le biais de la genetique et de la nutrition. Ce texte a pour objectif de faire l'etat des connaissances sur les differents nutriments jouant sur le taux butyreux des laits et de quantifier les effets des acides acetique, butyrique et propionique, du glucose, de l'acide gras trans 10 C18:1 et du trans 10 , cis 12 CLA sur le taux butyreux et le rapport taux proteique sur taux butyreux. Les travaux des cinquante dernieres annees sont synthetises dans six meta-analyses des donnees d'essais dans lesquels les precedents nutriments ont ete apportes par perfusion digestive. L'efficacite a diminuer le taux butyreux est respectivement de - 5,71, - 2,99, - 87, et - 1467 g/kg par kilogramme de nutriment ajoute pour l'acide propionique, le glucose, le trans 10 C18:1, et le trans 10 , cis 12 CLA et de - 7,33 et - 2,20 g/kg par kilogramme de nutriment apporte en moins pour les acides butyrique et acetique. Les mecanismes mis en jeux dans ces reponses sont revus. Sur la base des variations de flux de nutriments mesurees a la suite d'une augmentation de 30 % de la proportion d'aliments concentres, il ressort que les nutriments glucogeniques (acide propionique et glucose) expliqueraient 54 % de la chute du taux butyreux enregistree, les acides gras trans 10 (trans 10 C18:1 et trans 10 , cis 12 CLA) 34 % et les precurseurs (acide acetique et butyrique) des acides gras synthetises «de novo» 21 %. Ce travail demontre que la chute de taux butyreux observee avec des changements de regime est multi-factorielle. Une approche pluri-nutriments est proposee pour remplacer l'approche mono-nutriment jusqu'ici utilisee pour essayer de predire les changements de taux butyreux en reponse a une modification de la composition des rations.
Physiological functions of phytochromes in tomato: a study using photomorphogenic mutants.

Plant morphogenesis is influenced greatly by the irradiance, quality, direction and periodicity of the ambient light. At least three different photomorphogenic photoreceptors have been distinguished: (i) the red light (R)- and far-red light (FR)- absorbing phytochromes; (ii) the UV-A and blue light (B)-absorbing cryptochromes; and (iii) the UV-B photoreceptor. The phytochromes, which are the best characterized photosensory photoreceptors, are encoded by a small multigene family. In tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) five phytochrome genes have been cloned: PHYA, PHYB1, PHYB2, PHYE and PHYF. In this thesis a genetic approach is used to assign functions to the different phytochrome types in tomato. Two classes of phytochrome mutants in tomato were analyzed both molecularly and physiologically: (i) phytochrome photoreceptor mutants: f ar- r ed light- i nsensitive (fri) mutants, deficient in phytochrome A (phyA); t emporarily r ed light- i nsensitive (tri) mutants, deficient in phytochrome B1 (phyB1) and a phytochrome chromophore biosynthesis mutant aurea (au); (ii) signal transduction chain mutants: h igh- p igment- 1 (hp-1), h igh- p igment- 2 (hp-2), a tro v iolacea (atv) and I ntensive p igmentation ( Ip ). In adult plant stages fri mutants are hardly phenotypically distinguishable from wild type (WT) in white light (WL). The phyB1 -deficient tri mutants are only insensitive during the first two days upon transition from darkness to R. The tri mutants are slightly taller than the WT when grown in WL. The kinetics of stem elongation rate of these mutants were determined very precisely using a custom-built plant growth-measuring apparatus as well as their response to vegetational shade light. The immature fruits of hp-1 and hp-2 mutants have higher chlorophyll levels and are darker-green in colour than WT. The signal transduction chain mutants all exhibit exaggerated phytochrome responses, i.e. high anthocyanin synthesis and short hypocotyl length compared to WT. Anthocyanin biosynthesis that accumulated during a 24-h period of different monochromatic irradiations was determined. At 660 nm the fluence rate-response relationships for induction of anthocyanin in WT are complex, showing a low fluence rate response (LFRR) and a fluence rate dependent high irradiance response (HIR), which have been attributed to phyA and phyB 1, respectively. The hp-1 mutant exhibits a strong amplification of both the LFRR and HIR. The atv mutant shows strongest amplification of the HIR component. The Ip mutant exhibits an exaggerated anthocyanin response in B. The results are discussed in relationship to the published work on photomorphogenesis.
Increased dietary balanced protein levels at varying length of application in 1-14 days old broilers.

In the present trial increasing levels of balanced protein (BP; 100 (control), 115, 130, 145, 160% of recommendation) were fed from day one either for two, four, eight, or twelve days to male broilers (control + 4 x 4). After feeding the experimental diets dietary BP was reduced to the control level. This was done in two steps (2-day transition period) in order to avoid too strong changes in amino acid supply. Increasing BP levels non-linearly improved weight gain and feed conversion. This effect was most pronounced when experimental diets were fed for 12 days (p<0.05). Feeding increasing BP levels for two or four days had no effects on weight gain and feed conversion ratio. On day 14 two birds per pen were selected for dissection. Weights of the empty small intestine were determined. Enhancing the length of feeding the experimental diets from 2 to 12 days significantly increased the relative weight of the duodenum and jejunum (% of body weight) whilst dietary BP had no effect. However, small intestine weight of the control treatment was similar compared with that of birds received the experimental diets for 8 and 12 days.