Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECTS OF PROFITABILITY AND PROFIT MARGIN ON SUSTAINABILITY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) ORIENTED BUSINESSES IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF MTN KADUNA STATE.

The Study is on the effects of profitability and profit margin on sustainability of ICT oriented Businesses in Nigeria, using MTN Kaduna as case study. Given the current economic challenges facing many countries especially in developing economies, the notion of engendering greater profit margin and profitability levels, have become a prominent goal for many National Government as well as private practitioners. The relevance of profit margin and profitability to sustainable economic development has been highlighted by many researchers and it is now well-recognized that Business profitability and profit margin play a key role in the cultivation of sustainability strategies and in developing the abilities of existing ICT oriented business owners to growth their Businesses to greater levels of success. Thus, the study is based on two variables: profitability and profit margin and sustainability strategies and sustainable earnings of the ICT oriented businesses. The study consists of ten (10) MTN offices in Kaduna State, five (5) within Kaduna Metropolis and five (5) in other local government areas. The sample groups consists of managers and financial officers from the MTN offices located in Kaduna Central, Kachia, Kafanchia, Zaria city, Samaru and Saminaka. The time frame for the collection of data was from January to March 2014. The data was collected through structured questionnaire. The data gathered was analyzed using statistical package software SPSS version 14 and 4-likert scale System of Grade Point and Grade Mean to summarize data. The result was interpreted within the frame work of the research problem. Deductions show the factors responsible for optimization of profit by MTN in Kaduna and extraneous factor affecting profitability and profit margin of ICT-based businesses in the study area, further compounded by the current security insurgency in the study areas. More Government and private sector participation in ICT-based businesses will play an important role in improving the Nigerian economy.
new approach to characterising infectious disease transmission dynamics from entinel surveillance : Application to the Italian 2009 – 2010 A / H 1 N 1 influenza andemic

Syndromic and virological data are routinely collected by many countries and are often the only information available in real time. The analysis of surveillance data poses many statistical challenges that have not yet been addressed. For instance, the fraction of cases that seek healthcare and are thus detected is often unknown. Here, we propose a general statistical framework that explicitly takes into account the way the surveillance data are generated. Our approach couples a deterministic mathematical model with a statistical description of the reporting process and is applied to surveillance data collected in Italy during the 2009–2010 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic. We estimate that the reproduction number R was initially into the range 1.2–1.4 and that case detection in children was significantly higher than in pidemic modelling arkov Chain Monte Carlo methods ayesian inference eporting process adults. According to the best fit models, we estimate that school-age children experienced the highest infection rate overall. In terms of both estimated peak-incidence and overall attack rate, according to the Susceptibility and Immunity models the 5–14 years age-class was about 5 times more infected than the 65+years old age-group and about twice more than the 15–64 years age-class. The multiplying factors are doubled using the Baseline model. Overall, the estimated attack rate was about 16% according to the ccord Baseline model and 30% a
Optimal Policy for Macro-Financial Stability ∗

We study optimal policy in a small open economy in which a foreign borrowing constraint binds occasionally and a financial crisis is an endogenous event. In this environment, the scope for policy arises because of a pecuniary externality stemming from the presence of a key relative price in the borrowing constraint. We first show with a simple example that policy is not time consistent in this economy. We believe this is a virtue of our approach as it is difficult for governments to pre-commit to crisis policies. We then compute optimal policy for two instruments. The two instruments we consider are a consumption tax and a tax on debt. We find that, if the policymaker has only one policy instrument, the optimal intervention is precautionary regardless of the type of instrument used. However, if the policymaker can use both instruments (both before and during a financial crisis) the optimal intervention is a tax on debt and a subsidy on consumption in crisis times and no intervention in normal times. A methodological contribution of the paper is the development of computational algorithms to solve optimal policy problems in environments with constraints that bind only occasionally. JEL Classification: E52, F37, F41
(2017). Top down control of spinal sensorimotor circuits essential for survival. Journal of Physiology, 595(13), 4151-4158.

The ability to interact with challenging environments requires coordination of sensory and motor systems that underpin appropriate survival behaviours. All animals, including humans, use active and passive coping strategies to react to escapable or inescapable threats, respectively. Across species the neural pathways involved in survival behaviours are highly conserved and there is a consensus that knowledge of such pathways is a fundamental step towards understanding the neural circuits underpinning emotion in humans and treating anxiety or other prevalent emotional disorders. The midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG) lies at the heart of the defence-arousal system and its integrity is paramount to the expression of survival behaviours. To date, studies of ‘top down control’ components of defence behaviours have focused largely on the sensory and autonomic consequences of PAG activation. In this context, effects on motor activity have received comparatively little attention, despite overwhelming evidence of a pivotal role for the PAG in coordinating motor responses essential to survival (e.g. such as freezing in response to fear). In this article we provide an overview of top down control of sensory functions from the PAG, including selective control of different modalities of sensory, including proprioceptive, information forwarded to a major supsraspinal motor control centre, the cerebellum. Next, evidence from our own and other laboratories of PAG control of motor outﬂow is also discussed. Finally, the integration of sensorimotor functions by the PAG is considered, as part of coordinated defence behaviours that prepare an animal to be ready and able to react to danger.
Veteran trees in decline: Stratified national monitoring of oaks in Norway

Old veteran trees function as biodiversity hotspots in both forests and open landscapes, and protecting such trees is an important measure to halt loss of biodiversity. Nevertheless, the number of veteran trees continues to decline worldwide, although estimates of this decline mainly stem from geographically restricted case studies. In Norway, veteran oak trees have received special protection since 2011 through the Norwegian Biodiversity Act, however
Digital Service Innovation for Sustainable Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Creating and delivering products and services that promote sustainability is increasingly important in today’s economy. Novel services based on digital technologies and infrastructure can significantly contribute to sustainable development, as demonstrated by digitally enabled car-sharing services where increased asset utilization reduces production-related greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is still limited knowledge on how digital service innovation can purposefully be applied to promote sustainability. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic literature review and perform a qualitative inductive analysis of 50 articles on the impact of digital service innovation on social, environmental, and economic sustainability. We provide a comprehensive overview of real-world applications and identify five underlying mechanisms through which innovation with digital services can drive sustainable development. In doing so, we aim to pave the way to purposefully conceive, de-sign, and implement digital services for sustainability.
non-parametric conditional copula estimation of twin data. Journal of the Royal Statistical

Summary. Several studies on heritability in twins aim at understanding the different contribution of environmental and genetic factors to speciﬁc traits.Considering the national merit twin study, our purpose is to analyse correctly the inﬂuence of socio-economic status on the relationship between twins’ cognitive abilities. Our methodology is based on conditional copulas, which enable us to model the effect of a covariate driving the strength of dependence between the main variables. We propose a ﬂexible Bayesian non-parametric approach for the estimation of conditional copulas, which can model any conditional copula density.Our methodology extends the work of Wu, Wang and Walker in 2015 by introducing dependence from a covariate in an inﬁnite mixture model. Our results suggest that environmental factors are more inﬂuential in families with lower socio-economic position.
Chromatin dynamics are constrained by loops and driven by the INO80 nucleosome remodeler

18 The chromosomes - DNA polymers and their binding proteins - are compacted into a spatially 19 organized, yet dynamic, three-dimensional structure. Recent genome-wide chromatin 20 conformation capture experiments reveal a hierarchical organization of the DNA structure that is 21 imposed, at least in part, by looping interactions arising from the activity of loop extrusion 22 factors. The dynamics of chromatin reflects the response of these polymers to a combination of 23 thermal fluctuations and active processes. However, how chromosome structure and enzymes 24 acting on chromatin together define its dynamics remains poorly understood. To gain insight into 25 the structure-dynamics relationship of chromatin, we combine high-precision microscopy in 26 living Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells with systematic genetic perturbations and Rouse-27 model polymer simulations. We first investigated the model that the activity of two loop extrusion 28 factors, cohesin and condensin, drives chromatin dynamics. Surprisingly, deactivating cohesin 29 or condensin increased chromatin mobility, suggesting that loop extrusion constrains rather than 30 agitates chromatin motion. Our corresponding simulations reveal that the introduction of loops is 31 sufficient to explain the constraining activity of loop extrusion factors, highlighting that the 32 conformation adopted by the polymer plays a key role in defining its dynamics. We also find that 33 the activity of the INO80 chromatin remodeler, but not the SWI/SNF or RSC complexes, is 34 critical for ATP-dependent chromatin mobility in fission yeast. Taken together we suggest that 35 thermal and INO80-dependent activities exert forces that drive chromatin fluctuations, which are 36 constrained by the organization of the chromosome into loops .
A Robust Reconﬁgurable Control Scheme Against Pose Estimation Induced Time Delays

—Time delays are one of the most common problems when utilizing a visual sensor for pose estimation or navigation in aerial robotics. Such time delays can grow exponentially as a function of the scene’s complexity and the size of the mapping during classical Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) strategies. In this article, a robust reconﬁgurable control scheme against pose estimation induced time delays is presented. Initially, an experimental veriﬁcation of the induced time delays via pose estimation is performed for the attitude problem of a hexacopter, while a switching time delay dependent modeling approach is formulated. In addition, a stability analysis algorithm is introduced in order to evaluate the maximum allowable time delays that the target system can handle for a given LQR controller. The varying nature of the time delays results in a switching system with the latency time to play the role of a switching rule, while simulation results are presented to outline the effects of the time-induced delays in hexarotor-based systems and ﬁnally evaluate the overall efﬁciency of the proposed control scheme.
Damage detection of bridges based on spectral sub-band features and hybrid modeling of PCA and KPCA methods

This paper proposes a data-driven methodology for online early damage identification under changing environmental conditions. The proposed method relies on two data analysis methods: feature-based method and hybrid principal component analysis (PCA) and kernel PCA to separate damage from environmental influences. First, spectral sub-band features, namely, spectral sub-band centroids (SSCs) and log spectral sub-band energies (LSSEs), are proposed as damage-sensitive features to extract damage information from measured structural responses. Second, hybrid modeling by integrating PCA and kernel PCA is performed on the spectral sub-band feature matrix for data normalization to extract both linear and nonlinear features for nonlinear procedure monitoring. After feature normalization, suppressing environmental effects, the control charts (Hotelling T 2 and SPE statistics) is implemented to novelty detection and distinguish damage in structures. The hybrid PCA-KPCA technique is compared to KPCA by applying support vector machine (SVM) to evaluate the effectiveness of its performance in detecting damage. The proposed method is verified through numerical and full-scale studies (a Bridge Health Monitoring (BHM) Benchmark Problem and a cable-stayed bridge in China). The results demonstrate that the proposed method can detect the structural damage accurately and reduce false alarms by suppressing the effects and interference of environmental variations.
ACUTE NONSPECIFIC CHEST PAIN—LOW PROBABILITY OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Radiologic Procedure Rating Comments RRL* X-ray chest 9 ☢ CTA coronary arteries with contrast 7 ☢☢☢☢ CTA coronary arteries with contrast low dose 7 ☢☢☢ CTA chest (noncoronary) with contrast 7 ☢☢☢ US echocardiography transthoracic resting 7 O SPECT MPI rest and stress 6 ☢☢☢☢ Tc-99m V/Q scan lung 5 ☢☢☢ MRA aorta without and with contrast 5 See statement regarding contrast in text under “Anticipated Exceptions. ” O X-ray rib views 5 ☢☢☢ MRA chest (noncoronary) without and with contrast 5 See statement regarding contrast in text under “Anticipated Exceptions. ” O MRA aorta without contrast 4 O MRA chest (noncoronary) without contrast 4 O X-ray barium swallow and upper GI series 4 ☢☢☢ X-ray thoracic spine 4 ☢☢☢ US abdomen 4 O MRI heart with or without stress without and with contrast 3 O MRA pulmonary arteries without and with contrast 3 O MRA coronary arteries without contrast 3 O MRA coronary arteries without and with contrast 3 O US echocardiography transthoracic stress 3 O US echocardiography transesophageal 2 O MRI heart with or without stress without contrast 2 O MRA pulmonary arteries without contrast 2 O Coronary angiography with or without ventriculography 1 ☢☢☢
Numerical simulation of sand in plunging breakers

A discrete vortex model has been applied to describe plunging breakers. The wave breaking is represented by a jet of water impinging on the surface in front of the wave crest. The suspension of sediment has been modelled by a mixed diffusion convection scheme. Preliminary results in the form of vector plots of the flow field and concentration profiles are presented.
Financial time series

The evolution of financial markets is a complicated real‐world phenomenon that ranks at the top in terms of difficulty of modeling and/or prediction. One reason for this difficulty is the well‐documented nonlinearity that is inherent at work. The state‐of‐the‐art on the nonlinear modeling of financial returns is given by the popular auto‐regressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH) models and their generalizations but they all have their short‐comings. Foregoing the goal of finding the ‘best’ model, it is possible to simply transform the problem into a more manageable setting such as the setting of linearity. The form and properties of such a transformation are given, and the issue of one‐step‐ahead prediction using the new approach is explicitly addressed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History

Privacy policies are intended to inform users about the collection and use of their data by websites, mobile apps and other services or appliances they interact with. This also includes informing users about any choices they might have regarding such data practices. However, few users read these often long privacy policies; and those who do have difﬁculty understanding them, because they are written in convoluted and ambiguous language. A promising approach to help overcome this situation revolves around semi-automatically annotating policies, using combinations of crowdsourcing, machine learning and natural language processing. In this article, we introduce PrivOnto, a semantic framework to represent annotated privacy policies. PrivOnto relies on an ontology developed to represent issues identiﬁed as critical to users and/or legal experts. PrivOnto has been used to analyze a corpus of over 23,000 annotated data practices, extracted from 115 privacy policies of US-based companies. We introduce a collection of 57 SPARQL queries to extract information from the PrivOnto knowledge base, with the dual objective of (1) answering privacy questions of interest to users and (2) supporting researchers and regulators in the analysis of privacy policies at scale. We present an interactive online tool using PrivOnto to help users explore our corpus of 23,000 annotated data practices. Finally, we outline future research and open challenges in using semantic technologies for privacy policy analysis.
The Effects of Daily Feedback on Residential Electricity Usage as a Function of Usage Level and Type of Feedback Information

This study was conducted with 353 families during the Summer of 1977. Families received daily feedback each day except Sunday. Feedback (the independent variable) consisted of either the kilowatts consumed the previous day, the cumulative kilowatts consumed since the first of the month, the cost of the electricity consumed the previous day or the cumulative cost of the electricity consumed since the first of the month. The dependent variable was the number of kilowatts of electricity consumed daily. Results indicated that feedback was effective in reducing consumption for high consumers but had the opposite effect for medium and low consumers. Data is presented to show the differential effect of the four various types of daily feedback.
Occurrence and characteristics of mesoscale eddies in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean

Abstract. Coherent mesoscale features (referred to here as eddies) in the tropical northeastern Atlantic Ocean (between 12–22° N and 15–26° W) are examined and characterized. The eddies' surface signatures are investigated using 19 years of satellite-derived sea level anomaly (SLA) data. Two automated detection methods are applied, the geometrical method based on closed streamlines around eddy cores, and the Okubo–Weis method based on the relation between vorticity and strain. Both methods give similar results. Mean eddy surface signatures of SLA, sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS) anomalies are obtained from composites of all snapshots around identified eddy cores. Anticyclones/cyclones are identified by an elevation/depression of SLA and enhanced/reduced SST and SSS in their cores. However, about 20 % of all anticyclonically rotating eddies show reduced SST and reduced SSS instead. These kind of eddies are classified as anticyclonic mode-water eddies (ACMEs). About 146 ± 4 eddies per year with a minimum lifetime of 7 days are identified (52 % cyclones, 39 % anticyclones, 9 % ACMEs) with rather similar mean radii of about 56 ± 12 km. Based on concurrent in situ temperature and salinity profiles (from Argo float, shipboard, and mooring data) taken inside of eddies, distinct mean vertical structures of the three eddy types are determined. Most eddies are generated preferentially in boreal summer and along the West African coast at three distinct coastal headland regions and carry South Atlantic Central Water supplied by the northward flow within the Mauretanian coastal current system. Westward eddy propagation (on average about 3.00 ± 2.15 km d−1) is confined to distinct zonal corridors with a small meridional deflection dependent on the eddy type (anticyclones – equatorward, cyclones – poleward, ACMEs – no deflection). Heat and salt fluxes out of the coastal region and across the Cape Verde Frontal Zone, which separates the shadow zone from the ventilated subtropical gyre, are calculated.
Malondialdehyde and Ascorbic Acid Activity of Clarias Gariepinus Cultivated in Crude Oil Contaminated Sediment

his study examined how crude oil from an oil exploration business in Delta State affected juvenile African catfish's blood, gills, kidney, heart, and liver. 25 juvenile African catfish were employed in the study, divided into 5 groups (5 per treatment) and used for the study. The juveniles were exposed to five concentrations of crude oil (0%, 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, and 1%) for a period of 9days. At the end of the test period, anti-oxidant activities were carried out on the blood, kidney, heart, and liver of the juveniles. The results of antioxidant parameters revealed a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the control and exposed groups, which according to previous studies indicates oxidative stress. Malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased in the serum of exposed groups except 0.5% crude oil contaminated group when compared with the control group. Ascorbic acid content decreased in the serum of all exposed groups when compared with the control group. In the control stock, none of the juveniles displayed any degeneration. In conclusion, this research has shown that exposing juvenile Clarias gariepinus to crude oil, even at low concentrations, may cause antioxidant alterations in the fish's blood
University of Birmingham Conscious perception of natural images is constrained by category-related visual features

Conscious perception is crucial for adaptive behaviour yet access to consciousness varies for different types of objects. The visual system comprises regions with widely distributed category information and exemplar-level representations that cluster according to category. Does this categorical organisation in the brain provide insight into object-speci ﬁ c access to consciousness? We address this question using the Attentional Blink approach with visual objects as targets. We ﬁ nd large differences across categories in the attentional blink. We then employ activation patterns extracted from a deep convolutional neural network to reveal that these differences depend on mid-to high-level, rather than low-level, visual features. We further show that these visual features can be used to explain variance in performance across trials. Taken together, our results suggest that the speci ﬁ c organisation of the higher-tier visual system underlies important functions relevant for conscious perception of differing natural images.