Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Geophysical and Geotechnical Investigation of a Proposed Dam Axis of the River Butulu, Northwestern Nigeria.

An integrated geophysical and geotechnical investigation was conducted at a proposed dam site located approximately 6km southeast of Rijau in Niger State, Nigeria. The aim of the investigation is to determine the depth of overburden, physical and mechanical properties of soils, bedrock and other subsurface engineering/geological conditions which might affect the safety of the proposed dam. The geophysical investigation involved a resistivity profiling using Werner configuration array. A total of 104 profiling measurements were carried out across the main dam axis. The geotechnical investigation involved surface geological mapping, trial pitting and soil/rock coring at the location mentioned above. This was done to provide controls on the geophysical interpretations. The investigation delineated five subsurface layers which include the topsoil, subsoil, weathered layer, partly weathered/fractured basement and the fresh basement. Depths to the bedrock are generally less than 7.0m. The general characteristics of the subsurface materials show that they are competent and suitable to host an earth dam. However, while the configuration of the bedrock relief may aid groundwater flow into the stream channel, the delineated numerous joints which characterize the foundation rocks may act as conduits for anomalous water seepage beneath the proposed dam axis, if not factored in the design of the dam foundation.
Hybrid Functions Approach for the Fractional Riccati Differential Equation

In this paper, we state an efficient method for solving the fractional Riccati differential equation. This equation plays an important role in modeling the various phenomena in physics and engineering. Our approach is based on operational matrices of fractional differential equations with hybrid of block-pulse functions and Chebyshev polynomials. Convergence of hybrid functions and error bound of approximation by this basis are discussed. Implementation of this method is without ambiguity with better accuracy than its counterpart other approaches. The reliability and efficiency of the proposed scheme are demonstrated by some numerical experiments.
Diabetes and diet : food choices

This thesis reports on the food choices of diabetic patients. Two studies were undertaken considering the barriers these patients experience with the diabetic diet. Furthermore, the changes in food choices during the first years after the diagnosis of insulin-dependent diabetes as well as patients, food choice motives were investigated. It is concluded that despite thebarriers diabetic patients experience with their diets, they are motivated to change food choices for health-related reasons on a short-term and a more long-term basis. However, the actual changes in food use patients make after being diagnosed as diabetics are only partly in agreement with the principles of the diabetic diet. Many of the changes in food use are not necessary and the barrierssome are even undesirable from a nutritional perspective. It is advised that patients' understanding of the diabetic diet as well as nutrition education programmes for diabetic patients need to be improved.
CUTTING THE HEAD OF THE ROARING MONSTER": HOMOSEXUALITY AND REPRESSION IN AFRICA

This paper examines how a proposed conference of gays and lesbians in 2006 in Ghana created tensions and repercussions from the social, cultural, religious and political factors, which worked to repress same-sex discourse in the country. The new wave of homophobic expression that ensued is partly a product of the new globalization and also a manifestation of the clash between what is considered "African" and "un-African" social and sexual behavior. This study shows that the government of Ghana and religious institutions did not view homosexuality as a human rights issue as in the case of South Africa, but a form of "sexual colonialism" or Western imposition on Ghanaians. Africanists working on West Africa have yet to seriously place homosexuality on academic agenda. We fill this gap in the current stage of sexuality and African studies by looking at how the proposed conference of gays and lesbians in 2006 in Ghana integrated Ghana's experience of "unnaturalness" of homosexuality and homophobia into those of other parts of the world.
Constraining differential rotation of Sun-like stars from asteroseismic and starspot rotation periods

The content of this chapter has been published in Nielsen et al. (2015), A & A vol. 582, A10. The work was carried out and written by myself, under the supervision of L. Gizon, H. Schunker and J. Schou from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.
Designing of Hybrid form of Benzothiazole-quinazoline as GABA-A Inhibitor with Anticonvulsant Profile: An in-silico Approach

Epilepsy is a common but serious brain disorder. It is universal, with no age, sex, geographical, social class or racial boundaries. One of the most important mechanisms for handling it is the inhibition of the GABA-A receptor. In same context while studying the treatment of epilepsy we found the significant effects of the derivatives of the benzothiazole and quinazolines, this promotes us to develop a hybrid form of these two moieties by the means of in-silico resources with antiepileptic/anticonvulsant effects. Molecular docking approaches are routinely used in modern drug design to help understand drug–receptor interaction. This study has been performed with the help of Chemdraw Ultra 7.0, AutoDock Vina (Python Prescription 0.8), and PaDEL software. Results revealed that ligand-protein interaction affinity of all designed 10 hybrid molecules ranges from -6.8 Kcal/mol to -6.2 Kcal/mol which is approximately double as compared to pre-existing GABA-A inhibitor i.e. γ-aminobutyric acid (CID: 119, ligand-protein interaction affinity is -3.2 Kcal/mol).
EFFECT OF STORAGE METHODS ON THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF SAPOTA CANDY

The effect of storage on the nutritional quality of sapota candy as influenced by different storage methods was studied. The selected candy samples were packed in three different packages viz. (metalized multilayered polyethylene) pouches, poly propylene pouches and poly ethene pouches and stored at ambient and refrigerated conditions. The candy prepared from 30/40/500Brix sugar syrup dried at 60°C in tray dryer and stored in metalized pouches showed least changes in titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, total sugar, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar. Sapota candy samples stored in metalized pouches were shelf stable for three months.
Guidelines for the on-site assessment of historic timber structures

In the scope of European Cooperation in Science and Technology–Wood Science for Conservation of Cultural Heritage (COST IE0601–WoodCultHer) (available at http:// www.woodculther.org) it was agreed to produce Guidelines for the Assessment of Historic Timber Structures, covering the principles and possible approaches for the safety assessment of old timber structures of historical relevance that could be used as the basis for possible European Standards, as discussed with CEN / TC346 (Conservation of Cultural Heritage). This approach was targeted at all those concerned with the conservation of heritage buildings. These guidelines should also help decision-making regarding the need for immediate safety measures. The aim is to guarantee that inspection and assessment measures provide the necessary data for historical analysis, structural safety assessment, and planning of intervention works, while having minimal impact on the building fabric (the original materials, structural systems, and techniques). This article provides information on the criteria to be used in the assessment of load-bearing timber structures in heritage buildings. It covers the preliminary assessment (desk survey, preliminary visual survey, measured survey, structural analysis, and preliminary report), as well as the detailed survey of timbers (with a special emphasis on visual strength grading on site) and carpentry joints. The subsequent diagnostic report and the detailed design of repairs are outside its scope.
The Effect of Democratic Zoning System on Nigeria Economy: Evidence of Niger State

The introduction of the zoning system into Nigeria political space was to aid the smooth rotation of key political positions across the country. This policy is to achieve fairness, peace and equitable distribution of resource. Its adverse effect on the economy is thus something to worry about. Therefore, the study examines the effect of democratic zoning system on the economy of Nigeria, with special reference to Niger state. Employing descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. The results revealed that the elements of democratic zoning vis-a-vis; peace, equity, unity and justice has a positive and significant effect on the growth of the Nigeria economy. The authors thus recommends the government at both levels should focus on providing simultaneous development projects to pave way for peace and unity, zoning system should be incorporated into the Nigeria constitution, unbiased and equitable distribution of resources across the economy. DOI: 10.15408/etk.v17i1. 6592
Exploring the Role of Perceived External Prestige in Employee’s Emotional Appeal: Evidence from a Textile Firm

Perceived external prestige (PEP) is an new interesting topic in the organizational literature however limited study have sought to investigate its’ impacts on employees working attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate PEP influence on employee’s emotional appeals toward working organization. The data used in this study taken from 200 employees which were worked in well-known textile industry firm. Employees’ commitment to their organization was assessed with the six-item affective commitment instrument which was developed by Meyer et.al. (1990, 1991) and individual’s organizational identification and PEP were measured by Mael and Ashforth (1992) six-item organizational identification and external prestige scale where job satisfaction assessed with Michigan Organizational Evaluation Scale’s shorten sub-scales (Spector, 1997). Hierarchical regression analysis was used to estimate the relationship between PEP and positive work variables relationship. The results showed that PEP was an impact on affective commitment by full mediating role of job satisfaction and organizational identification.
Integrating content and language in English language teaching in secondary education: Models, benefits, and challenges

In the last decade, there has been a major interest in content-based instruction (CBI) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL). These are similar approaches which integrate content and foreign/second language learning through various methodologies and models as a result of different implementations around the world. In this paper, I first offer a sociocultural view of CBI-CLIL. Secondly, I define language and content as vital components in CBI-CLIL. Thirdly, I review the origins of CBI and the continuum perspective, and CLIL definitions and models featured in the literature. Fourth, I summarise current aspects around research in programme evaluation. Last, I review the benefits and challenges of this innovative approach so as to encourage critically context-responsive endeavours.
Union Responses to Nafta in the US and Canada: Explaining Intra- and International Variation

In this article we ask why some unions in Canada and the United States were more actively opposed to NAFTA than others, and why these "activist" unions differed in the strategies that they adopted for fighting NAFTA and in the alternatives that they offered to it. We ask the same questions about differences between the U.S. and Canadian labor movements as embodied in the rhetoric and behavior of their central federations. We distinguish four union "types" on two dimensions: the inclusiveness of union leaders' collective identity (i.e., the kinds of workers that the union actively seeks to organize), and the radicalness of union leaders' moral economy (i.e., how critical the union is of the status quo political economy). We hypothesize that differences in union type, so defined, explain a significant part of the variation in the levels of union activism against NAFTA in both countries, as well as differences in strategies of opposition. Differences in the relative strength of union types is also hypothesiz.
Examining the Critical Thinking Dispositions and the Problem Solving Skills of Computer Engineering Students.

Background:In today’s world, critical thinking and problem solving are among the primary skills that need to be held by individuals.Materials and methods:This study was carried out at the beginning of the 2013-2014 academic year in a university located in the north of Turkey. A total of 186 computer engineering students participated in the study. The California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory and the Problem Solving Inventory were used for data collection. The descriptive survey model was employed in the present study. The data obtained in the study were analyzed based on the research questions.Results:The students generally had high-level CTDs. The students generally had high-level PSSs. a negative low statistically significant relationship was found between the two variables.Conclusions:It was found out that the computer engineering students generally had high-level CTDs. It was seen that the CTD levels of the students did not vary statistically significantly by gender and grade. the computer engineering students had generally high-level PSSs. The PSS levels of the students did not vary statistically significantly by gender and grade. Finally, a negative low statistically significant relationship was found between the CTD and the PSS levels of the students.
Closed String Thermodynamics and a Blue Tensor Spectrum

The BICEP-2 team has recently reported the positive detection of cosmic microwave background $B$-mode polarization. Although uncertainties due to galactic dust foregrounds remain, it is a constructive exercise to work out the implications of presuming some part of the detected $B$-mode signal to be due to primordial gravitational waves. Were a positive detection of a tensor-to-scalar ratio larger than $r\ensuremath{\gtrsim}\mathcal{O}({10}^{\ensuremath{-}2})$ confirmed, detecting a tilt in the tensor spectrum comparable to that observed for the scalar power spectrum becomes in principle possible. We wish to explore in this brief paper the possibility of there being a blue tilt to the primordial gravitational-wave spectrum. Such a tilt would be incompatible with standard inflationary models, although it was predicted some years ago in the context of a mechanism that thermally generates the primordial perturbations through a Hagedorn phase of string cosmology. By scrutinizing the data with priors informed by a model that is immediately falsifiable, but which predicts features that may be favored by the data---namely a blue tensor tilt with an induced and complementary red tilt to the scalar spectrum, with a naturally large tensor-to-scalar ratio that relates to both---we offer a useful straw model against which to test the predictions of single-field inflation.
Dissipation and ultrastrong coupling in circuit QED

Including qubit relaxation and dephasing, and cavity relaxation, we derive a master equation that takes into account the qubit-resonator coupling. Special attention is given to the ultrastrong coupling regime, where the failure of the quantum optical master equation is manifest. In this situation, our model predicts an asymmetry in the vacuum Rabi splitting that could be used to probe dephasing noise at unexplored frequencies. We also show how uctuations in the qubit frequency can cause sideband transitions, squeezing, and Casimir-like photon generation.
Distorting Value Added: The Use of Longitudinal, Vertically Scaled Student Achievement Data for Growth-Based, Value-Added Accountability

Longitudinal, student performance-based, value-added accountability models have become popular of late and continue to enjoy increasing popularity. Such models require student data to be vertically scaled across wide grade and developmental ranges so that the value added to student growth/achievement by teachers, schools, and districts may be modeled in an accurate manner. Many assessment companies provide such vertical scales and claim that those scales are adequate for longitudinal value-added modeling. However, psychometricians tend to agree that scales spanning wide grade/developmental ranges also span wide content ranges, and that scores cannot be considered exchangeable along the various portions of the scale. This shift in the constructs being measured from grade to grade jeopardizes the validity of inferences made from longitudinal value-added models. This study demonstrates mathematically that the use of such “construct-shifting” vertical scales in longitudinal, value-added models introduces remarkable distortions in the value-added estimates of the majority of educators. These distortions include (a) identification of effective teachers/schools as ineffective (and vice versa) simply because their students’ achievement is outside the developmental range measured well by “appropriate” grade-level tests, and (b) the attribution of prior teacher/school effects to later teachers/schools. Therefore, theories, models, policies, rewards, and sanctions based upon such value-added estimates are likely to be invalid because of distorted conclusions about educator effectiveness in eliciting student growth. This study identifies highly restrictive scenarios in which current value-added models can be validly applied in high-stakes and low-stakes research uses. This article further identifies one use of student achievement data for growth-based, value-added modeling that is not plagued by the problems of construct shift: the assessment of an upper grade content (e.g., fourth grade) in both the grade below and the appropriate grade to obtain a measure of student gain on a grade-specific mix of constructs. Directions for future research on methods to alleviate the problems of construct shift are identified as well.
Phylogeny of Stenopodidea (Crustacea : Decapoda) shrimps inferred from nuclear and mitochondrial genes reveals non-monophyly of the families Spongicolidae and Stenopididae and most of their composite genera

Abstract. The infraorder Stenopodidea is a relatively small group of marine decapod crustaceans including the well known cleaner shrimps, but their higher taxonomy has been rather controversial. This study provides the most comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analyses of Stenopodidea using sequence data from two mitochondrial (16S and 12S rRNA) and two nuclear (histone H3 and sodium–potassium ATPase α-subunit (NaK)) genes. We included all 12 nominal genera from the three stenopodidean families in order to test the proposed evolutionary hypothesis and taxonomic scheme of the group. The inferred phylogeny did not support the familial ranking of Macromaxillocarididae and rejected the reciprocal monophyly of Spongicolidae and Stenopididae. The genera Stenopus, Richardina, Spongiocaris, Odontozona, Spongicola and Spongicoloides are showed to be poly- or paraphyletic, with monophyly of only the latter three genera strongly rejected in the analysis. The present results only strongly support the monophyly of Microprosthema and suggest that Paraspongiola should be synonymised with Spongicola. The three remaining genera, Engystenopus, Juxtastenopus and Globospongicola, may need to be expanded to include species from other genera if their statuses are maintained. All findings suggest that the morphological characters currently adopted to define genera are mostly invalid and substantial taxonomic revisions are required. As the intergeneric relationships were largely unresolved in the present attempt, the hypothesis of evolution of deep-sea sponge-associated taxa from shallow-water free-living species could not be verified here. The present molecular phylogeny, nevertheless, provides some support that stenopoididean shrimps colonised the deep sea in multiple circumstances.
EFFECT OF THERAPEUTIC EXERCISES WITH OR WITHOUT POSITIONAL RELEASE TECHNIQUE IN TREATMENT OF CHRONIC MECHANICAL LOW BACK PAIN PATIENTS: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Introduction: Chronic Mechanical Low Back Dysfunction (CMLBD) is the most common problem of the working-age population in modern industrial society; it causes a substantial economic burden due to the wide use of medical services and absence from work. Aim of work: To investigate the effect of positional release technique on patients with chronic mechanical low back pain. Materials and Methods: Thirty two patients from both sexes were diagnosed with CMLBP, aged 20 to 45 years and were divided randomly into two equal groups; sixteen patients each; group A (control group) received therapeutic exercises that include ( Stretch and Strength exercises for back and abdominal muscles). Group B (experimental group) received therapeutic exercises with positional release technique; treatment was applied 3 days/week for 4 weeks. Pain was measured by Visual Analogue Scale, Lumbar range of motion was measured by Inclinometer and Functional disability was measured by Oswestry disability scale. Measurements were taken at two intervals pre-treatment and post-treatment. Results: Data obtained was analyzed via paired and unpaired t-Test. There were statistical differences between the 2 groups, where the experimental group showed greater improvement than control group. Conclusion: Positional release technique is considered as an effective treatment for reducing pain, functional disability and increasing lumbar range of motion in individuals with chronic mechanical low back pain.
Growing vortex patches

This paper demonstrates that two well-known equilibrium solutions of the Euler equations—the corotating point vortex pair and the Rankine vortex—are connected by a continuous branch of exact solutions. The central idea is to “grow” new vortex patches at two stagnation points that exist in the frame of reference of the corotating point vortex pair. This is done by generalizing a mathematical technique for constructing vortex equilibria first presented by Crowdy [D. G. Crowdy, “A class of exact multipolar vortices,” Phys. Fluids 11, 2556 (1999)]. The solutions exhibit several interesting features, including the merging of two separate vortex patches via the development of touching cusps. Numerical contour dynamics methods are used to verify the mathematical solutions and reveal them to be robust structures. The general issue of how simple vortex equilibria can be continued continuously to more complicated ones with very different vortical topologies is discussed. The solutions are examples of exact solution.
The relation between galaxy morphology and colour in the EAGLE simulation

We investigate the relation between kinematic morphology, intrinsic colour and stellar mass of galaxies in the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We calculate the intrinsic u-r colours and measure the fraction of kinetic energy invested in ordered corotation of 3562 galaxies at z=0 with stellar masses larger than $10^{10}M_{\odot}$. We perform a visual inspection of gri-composite images and find that our kinematic morphology correlates strongly with visual morphology. EAGLE produces a galaxy population for which morphology is tightly correlated with the location in the colour- mass diagram, with the red sequence mostly populated by elliptical galaxies and the blue cloud by disc galaxies. Satellite galaxies are more likely to be on the red sequence than centrals, and for satellites the red sequence is morphologically more diverse. These results show that the connection between mass, intrinsic colour and morphology arises from galaxy formation models that reproduce the observed galaxy mass function and sizes.