Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The perspective of students and faculty members on the efficiency and usability of e-learning course at Ajman university: A case study

While there is much in the literature on the usability of the Course Management System (CMS) itself, there is little that looks at content of these CMS. This study aims to investigate the usability of the e-learning courses in Ajman University from the perspective of students and the faculty members. The e-learning usability evaluation questionnaire developed by Zaharias (2009) has been used as the main instrument for data collections in this study. Semi-structured interview is another instrument that has been used to investigate the e-Learning usability evaluation. This form has been used to collect the qualitative data from the faculty members. Research results revealed that the attitude of the majority respondents toward the usability of e-learning courses in Ajman University in general is strongly positive. Most of the participants in this study view the e-learning courses in Ajman university easy to use, easy to learn and have usable user interface. However, the first year students hesitate to express firm opinion about usability of e-learning courses in Ajman University. The study concludes and recommends that there is a great need to have more training for freshman students on how to use Moodle, in addition, advanced training sessions for instructors to improve their skills on how to use Moodle more effectively and utilize its all features to make more effective usage and easier ways of ongoing interaction with all students.
Agreement, Adjustment and Satisfaction of Wives with Husbands’ Participation During Pregnancy: Causality Network Analysis

This research project aims to study three aspects namely, Wives’ agreement, satisfaction and adjustment and focuses on the background factors affecting this phase in women’s life. In this analytical cross-sectional study, there were 340 pregnant participants who had referred to health centers in three districts in the city of Urmia, Iran. The questionnaire was used to collect data. Then SPSS (version 19) and Mplus 5 statistical tools were used to obtain association of variables. Significance level was 0.05. Women’s satisfaction with husbands’ participation during pregnancy was positively affected by the last pregnancy age: (βt=0.892(, husbands’ education: (βt =0.144), mother’s ethnicity: (βt=0.183), and wanted pregnancy: (βt=0.278), but it was negatively affected by sufficiency of income: (βt=-0.164) and husbands’ support to the wives at hospital: (βt=-0.160). The agreement parameter had a direct significant relationship with wives’ satisfaction with husbands’ participation during pregnancy and so did agreement parameter along with adjustment. Among the effective variables in these three dimensions, the variable of mother’s education was the only effective common variable. It can be concluded that the higher rate of satisfaction relates to educated women and as agreement increases, the general health of the spouses and improvement in their married life take place.
The impact of experience and perceptions of social mobility on the life satisfaction of young people in Taiwan and Hong Kong

This article, which is based on a comparative telephone survey conducted in 2016, examines the relationship between social mobility experience and the life satisfaction of people aged 18 to 35 in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Using both objective and subjective measures of social mobility, we found that young people’s perceptions of their own social mobility and that of the entire youth population correlated positively with life satisfaction. However, the objective upward experiences of intragenerational and intergenerational mobility did not have a significant effect on life satisfaction. In addition, the objective upward experiences of individuals were found to be uncorrelated with the perceptions of their own social mobility and that of the entire youth population. These findings suggest that young people will not become more satisfied even if they themselves have actually experienced upward mobility, because their positive perception of social mobility depends on whether they can move upward to their desired status. It is the expected social mobility and the competence to achieve rather than the actual past mobility experience that could affect the life satisfaction of the young generation in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Grandfathers and Grandsons: Social Security Expansion and Child Health in China

We examine the multigenerational impacts of a nationwide social pension program in China, the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS). NRPS was rolled out in full scale since 2012, and rural enrollees over age 60 are eligible to receive a minimum of 70 CNY non-contributory monthly pension. We leverage age eligibility and variations in pension receipt to identify the inter-generational effect of NRPS on health among grandchildren. We find NRPS substantially increases child weight without impacting height. Overall, child BMI z score increases by 1.09, which is largely driven by grandfathers' pension receipt raising rates of overweight and obesity among grandsons. Among the potential mechanisms, our findings are more plausibly explained by a mixture of income effect, son preference, and rising inter-generational co-residence and childcare.
MED12 Exon 1 Mutational Screening in Iranian Patients with Uterine Leiomyoma.

Background Uterine leiomyoma, also called fibroid, is a benign tumor that arises due to monoclonal transformation of myometrium, the smooth muscle cell layer of the uterus. Fibroids cause several complications including infertility, miscarriage, bleeding, pain, and dysmenorrhea. Recent studies have revealed the role of mutations in MED12 gene exon 2 in various populations; however, the reported frequency of these mutations differs between reports. In addition, it is suggested that mutations in exon 1 may also play a role in leiomyoma. The aim of the present study was to screen for MED12 exon 1 mutations in leiomyoma tissue samples of Iranian patients. Methods We performed mutational analysis of exon 1 and the flanking intronic regions using multi-temperature single-strand conformational polymorphism (MSSCP) and sequencing analyses in 120 uterine leiomyoma samples. Results No mutations were detected in exon 1 of MED12 in our samples. Conclusion According to the literature and the present results, mutations in the MED12 exon 1 are rare. However, we could not ignore the role of these mutations in developing leiomyoma.
Mathematical modeling and experimental assessment of the cast-tape drying

Abstract Cast-tape drying (CTD) process was evaluated by an experimental approach, obtaining drying curves, convective coefficients of heat (hh) and mass (hm) transfer, time-temperature, and pulp shrinkage kinetics for tomato pulp at 2, 3, and 4 mm thick. A heat and mass transfer model with moving border described CTD. Pulp thickness was reduced by 90%, under hh and hm of 55 W m−2 K−1 and 0.05 m s−1, respectively. Evaporative capacity ranged between 8 and 15 kg m−2 h−1, and drying time between 8 and 24 min for 2 and 4 mm thick, respectively. Coupled experimental and theoretical analysis of CTD clarified the relative importance of different phenomena controlling the process.
The Influence of Convenience, Enjoyment, Perceived Risk, And Trust On The Attitude Toward Online Shopping

The purpose of this research is to reveal the influence of convenience, enjoyment, perceived risk, and trust on the attitude of Padang State University students toward online shopping. Online and field surveys are conducted to collect data. A total of 242 questionnaires were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show that convenience has a significant effect on enjoyment, then enjoyment has a significant effect on trust and attitude toward online shopping. Likewise with trust, this was found to have a significant effect on attitudes toward online shopping. However, the results of the analysis show that the perceived risk does not significantly influence trust and attitudes toward online shopping.
Urban object classification with 3D Deep-Learning

Automatic urban object detection remains a challenge for city management. Existing approaches in remote sensing include the use of aerial images or LiDAR to map a scene. This is, for example, the case for patch-based detection methods. However, these methods do not fully exploit the 3D information given by a LiDAR acquisition because they are similar to depth map. 3D Deep-Learning methods are promising to tackle the issue of the urban objects detection inside a LiDAR cloud. In this paper, we present the results of several experiments on urban object classification with the PointNet network trained with public data and tested on our data-set. We show that such a methodology delivers encouraging results, and also identify the limits and the possible improvements.
Supply chain reconfiguration opportunities arising from additive manufacturing technologies in the digital era

Abstract The aim of this study is to explore the impact of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies on the configuration opportunities of supply chains (SCs) within the digital manufacturing era. To this effect, we first conduct a critical taxonomy of existing research efforts and then propose an integrated decision-making process for the design and management of SCs defined by digital manufacturing technologies. Following, we provide an integrated framework for future SC reconfiguration opportunities arising from the adoption of AM on a supply network setting. Our analysis demonstrates the significant ramifications of AM techniques on SC configuration and sustainability performance as opposed to conventional value networks; however, existing research is evidently limited due to scope related challenges and the inherent complexity at the manufacturing echelon of the respective supply networks.
Pelvic bone structures in free-ranging Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) from Switzerland: a radiological pelvimetry study

The observation of severe pelvic malformations in Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) from a population reintroduced to Switzerland raised the question as to whether inbreeding may contribute to the development of congenital pelvic malformations. We aimed at providing baseline data on the pelvic morphology of Eurasian lynx from the reintroduced populations in Switzerland, at assessing potential differences in pelvic conformation between the two main Swiss populations, among age classes and between sexes, and at detecting pelvic anomalies. We performed measurements of 10 pelvic parameters on the radiographs of 57 lynx of both sexes and different ages taken from 1997-2015. We calculated two ratios (vertical diameter/acetabula; sagittal diameter/transversal diameter) and two areas (pelvic outlet and inlet) to describe the shape of the pelvis. Our results showed that the Eurasian lynx is a mesatipelvic species, with a pelvis length corresponding to approximatively 20% of the body length. We found no statistically significant differences between the two examined populations but observed growth-related pelvis size differences among age groups. Sexual dimorphism was obvious in the adult age group only: two parameters reflecting pelvic width were larger in females, likely to meet the physiological requirements of parturition. By contrast, pelvis length, conjugata vera, diagonal conjugata, vertical diameter and sagittal diameter were larger in males, in agreement with their larger body size. Accordingly, the ratio between the sagittal and transversal diameters was significantly larger in males, i.e. adult males have a different pelvic shape than adult females. Furthermore, pelvimetry highlighted one adult individual with values outside the calculated reference range, suggesting a possible congenital or developmental pathological morphology of the internal pelvis. Our work generated baseline data of the pelvic morphology including growth and sexual dimorphism of the Eurasian lynx. These data could also be useful for estimating age and sex in skeletal remains.
Genetic analysis of heat tolerance regarding Holstein cows conception rate in Japan

Fertility reduction in summer poses a considerable problem in dairy cattle. The present study performed a genetic analysis of heat tolerance regarding the conception rate (CR) during lactation, based on temperatures recorded at weather stations close to Holstein cow herds. The records of artificial insemination between 22 to 315 days in milk from 2012 to 2016 were obtained from the Livestock Improvement Association of Japan. Insemination data included 245,876 records (2,212 herds, 124,407 cows) for the first lactation, 206,875 records (2,222 herds, 100,922 cows) for the second lactation, and 140,474 records (2,194 herds, 69,000 cows) for the third lactation. The daily average dry-bulb temperature was recorded by the nearest weather station to cow herds (843 weather stations of Japan Meteorological Agency). Data were analyzed using the linear or the threshold random regression sire model based on temperature. The CR was 0.47 at 17 oC, and decreased as the temperature at insemination increased from 20 oC to 32 oC. In the linear model, the heritability estimates of CR were 0.02–0.03 in the mid-temperature range (-10 oC to 25 oC). The heritability estimates of CR at -22 oC were 0.03 in the first lactation and 0.08 in the second and third lactations; at 32 oC the CR heritability estimates were 0.04 in the first and second lactations and 0.06 in the third lactation. The trend observed in heritability estimates with temperature changes was similar in both models, although the heritability estimates obtained by the threshold model were higher than those obtained by the linear model. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients between the transmitting ability of sires with 25 or more recorded daughters estimated by the linear and threshold models were high: 0.997, 0.995, and 0.988 in the first, second, and third lactation, respectively. These results indicated that the genetic estimates of CR did not differ between the models. Because the genetic correlation of CR between midand high-temperature conditions was low and that between lowand high-temperature conditions was high, the few genes controlling CR might be common under heat stress and low temperature, but might differ under moderate temperature.
Integrating Programming Across the Undergraduate Mathematics Curriculum

We have integrated computer programming instruction into the required courses of our mathematics major. Our majors take a sequence of four courses in their first 2 years, each of which is paired with a weekly 75-minute computer lab period that has a dual purpose of both computationally exploring the mathematical concepts from the lecture portion of the course, while simultaneously teaching programming fundamentals. Building on this foundation, we give significant programming assignments to our upper-division students, requiring them to regularly use and apply their programming skills to investigate the mathematical topics.
Killing a Constitution with a Thousand Cuts: Executive Aggrandizement and Party-state Fusion in India

Abstract Many concerned citizens, including judges, bureaucrats, politicians, activists, journalists, and academics, have been claiming that Indian democracy has been imperilled under the premiership of Narendra Modi, which began in 2014. To examine this claim, the Article sets up an analytic framework for accountability mechanisms liberal democratic constitutions put in place to provide a check on the political executive. The assumption is that only if this framework is dismantled in a systemic manner can we claim that democracy itself is in peril. This framework helps distinguish between actions that one may disagree with ideologically but are nonetheless permitted by an elected government, from actions that strike at the heart of liberal democratic constitutionalism. Liberal democratic constitutions typically adopt three ways of making accountability demands on the political executive: vertically, by demanding electoral accountability to the people; horizontally, by subjecting it to accountability demands of other state institutions like the judiciary and fourth branch institutions; and diagonally, by requiring discursive accountability by the media, the academy, and civil society. This framework assures democracy over time – i.e. it guarantees democratic governance not only to the people today, but to all future peoples of India. Each elected government has the mandate to implement its policies over a wide range of matters. However, seeking to entrench the ruling party’s stranglehold on power in ways that are inimical to the continued operation of democracy cannot be one of them. The Article finds that the first Modi government in power between 2014 and 2019 did indeed seek to undermine each of these three strands of executive accountability. Unlike the assault on democratic norms during India Gandhi’s Emergency in the 1970s, there is little evidence of a direct or full-frontal attack during this period. The Bharatiya Janata Party government’s mode of operation was subtle, indirect, and incremental, but also systemic. Hence, the Article characterizes the phenomenon as “killing a constitution by a thousand cuts. ” The incremental assaults on democratic governance were typically justified by a combination of a managerial rhetoric of efficiency and good governance (made plausible by the undeniable imperfection of our institutions) and a divisive rhetoric of hyper-nationalism (which brands political opponents of the party as traitors of the state). Since its resounding victory in the 2019 general elections, the Modi government appears to have moved into consolidation mode. No longer constrained by the demands of coalition partners, early signs suggest that it may abandon the incrementalist approach for a more direct assault on democratic constitutionalism.
Risk of Depression after 5 Alpha Reductase Inhibitor Medication: Meta-Analysis

Purpose Although five-alpha reductase inhibitor (5-ARI) is one of standard treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or alopecia, potential complications after 5-ARI have been issues recently. This study aimed to investigate the risk of depression after taking 5-ARI and to quantify the risk using meta-analysis. Materials and Methods A total of 209,940 patients including 207,798 in 5-ARI treatment groups and 110,118 in control groups from five studies were included for final analysis. Inclusion criteria for finial analysis incudes clinical outcomes regarding depression risk in BPH or alopecia patients. Overall hazard ratio (HR) and odds ratio (OR) for depression were analyzed. Moderator analysis and sensitivity analysis were performed to determine whether HR or OR could be affected by any variables, including number of patients, age, study type, and control type. Results The pooled overall HRs for the 5-ARI medication was 1.23 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99–1.54) in a random effects model. The pooled overall ORs for the 5-ARI medication was 1.19 (95% CI, 0.95–1.49) in random effects model. The sub-group analysis showed that non-cohort studies had higher values of HR and OR than cohort studies. Moderator analysis using meta-regression showed that there were no variables that affect the significant difference in HR and OR outcomes. However, in sensitivity analysis, HR was significantly increased by age (p=0.040). Conclusions Overall risk of depression after 5-ARI was significantly not high, however its clinical importance needs validation by further studies. These quantitative results could provide useful information for both clinicians and patients.
Disturbance effects of boat-based tourism on waterbirds at the Ramsar-designated De Hoop Vlei, Western Cape, South Africa

4 Chapter 1 . 5 Chapter 2 . 14 Chapter 3 . 35 Chapter 4 . 60 Disclaimers . 66 Acknowledgements . 67 References . 68 Appendices . 80
Characterization of Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum) and Related Species in the United States

Information from taxonomic treatments and comparisons of accessions from numerous locations grown in the field and greenhouse were combined and summarized to produce a key and descriptions of common agricultural nightshades in North America (Solanum americanum Mill., S. nigrum L., S. ptycanthum Dun., and S. sarrachoides Sendt.). Quantitative and qualitative descriptions of key characters and photographs of important morphological structures are provided to facilitate field identification. Problems with nomenclature among these species are discussed, and a system of common names that would standardize usage is proposed.
Subspace identification of Hammerstein-type nonlinear systems subject to unknown periodic disturbance

In this paper, a subspace identification method is proposed for Hammerstein-type nonlinear systems subject to periodic disturbances with unknown waveforms. By separating the periodic disturbance response from the deterministic system response using the superposition principle, an orthogonal projection is established to eliminate the disturbance influence, while an instrumental variable is introduced to eliminate the noise effect for consistent estimation. The overall disturbance period could be exactly estimated by minimising an objective function of output prediction error. A singular value decomposition algorithm is developed to simultaneously estimate the observability matrix and the triangular block-Toeplitz matrix. The system matrices are subsequently retrieved via a shift-invariant algorithm. Sufficient conditions for consistent estimation of the observability matrix and the triangular block-Toeplitz matrix are established with a proof. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and merit of the proposed identification method.
Semantic locality‐based approximate knowledge graph query

RDF knowledge graphs (KG) usually contain billions of labeled entities, and how to obtain the desired results efficiently on RDF KG for given SPARQL queries have attracted increasing attentions recently. However, it is difficult for users to write a complex SPARQL query without full knowledge of the underlying KG schema due to the “schema‐free” feature of RDF KG. In this paper, we study the problem of acquiring semantic approximate results for a simple SPARQL query instead of the complex expression. The basic idea behind is to use the real knowledge semantics to extend the query intention of given simplified SPARQL query, and then a semantic based greedy search over is designed to return top‐k similar results. To obtain the knowledge semantics efficiently, we define type similarity to reorganize the original KG as a corpus with semantic locality and then a context aware text embedding model is adopted to achieve the semantic vectors of existing knowledge. Afterwards, an approximate query method over RDF KG is designed to obtain top‐k similar results based on the knowledge semantics above. Extensive experiments over DBpedia dataset and QALD‐4 benchmark confirm our solution's superiority on both effectiveness and efficiency.
A Ferguson Effect, the Drug Epidemic, Both, or Neither? Explaining the 2015 and 2016 U.S. Homicide Rises by Race and Ethnicity

In 2015 and 2016, U.S. homicide rates rose dramatically amid two historic social phenomena: a police legitimacy crisis related to an alleged “Ferguson effect” and the opioid epidemic. To empirically explain this increase, we compile county-level data on race/ethnic-specific homicides from 2014 to 2016 along with contemporaneous county-level data on police killings of civilians, citizen protests, fatal drug overdoses, structural disadvantage, and other factors. Regression analysis suggests that both police illegitimacy and the drug epidemic contributed to Black and White homicide rises, particularly in structurally disadvantaged counties. However, we find no such association for Hispanic homicide increases.