Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bilingual (German-English) Molecular Biology Courses in an Out-of-School Lab on a University Campus: Cognitive and Affective Evaluation

Taking into account (German) students’ deficiencies in scientific literacy as well as reading competence and the ‘mother tongue + 2’ objective of the European commission, a bilingual course on molecular biology was developed. It combines CLIL fundamentals and practical experimentation in an out-of-school lab. Cognitive and affective evaluation of 490 students from upper secondary schools followed a quasi-experimental design, including two experimental (bilingual course and monolingual course) and one control group that did not take part in any of the courses. Cognitive achievement concerning molecular biology and self-concept were measured in a pre, post, follow-up test design. The study has shown that cognitive achievement concerning biological content knowledge of students having participated in a bilingual course (English and German) does not differ significantly from cognitive achievement of those that have participated in a monolingual course (German). Regarding biological self-concept, no significant differences between students having assessed themselves as being rather interested and talented in foreign languages and students having assessed themselves as being rather interested and talented in science could be observed. This indicates that bilingual courses in an out-of-school lab are equally beneficial for both of these groups.
Old Concepts, New Tools: An Action Research Project on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning in Teacher Education

Social learning has long been seen as a positive direction in education with many advantages for learners. This paper describes an ongoing action research project carried out by a teacher educator at a pre-service teacher education college using social learning in her teaching through the use of computer-supported collaborative learning methods and tools. The paper traces the action research cycles, including analysis of the data collected that facilitated the transition from one cycle to the next. These data comprise class feedback, college student satisfaction surveys, students' reflective writing, and content analysis of online cooperative interaction. The paper concludes with a suggestion for an additional cycle in which an entire course will be offered through a Facebook page instead of the institutional learning management system.
Evaluations of Bacillus species against Callosobruchus chinensis , Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) under laboratory and store conditions

Five strains of the entopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis were evaluated against two stored products insect pests, Callosobruchus chinensis , Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) . The LC50s of C. maculatus of different tested bactria which recorded that, 248, 269, 144, 88 and 110 Ug/ml after C. maculatus treated with different concentrations of B.T J, B.t 0900, Bt NRRL 2172, BT IP thurizide and Bt HD112. ,under laboratory conditions . , respectively. The corresponding LC50s of C. chinensis, 233, 132, 145, 77 and 100 Ug/ml . , respectively . Udder store conditions the number of eggs laid per female of C. maculatus were significantly decreased and recorded 1.7±2.7, 5.3±0.5, 10.2±2.3, and 11.4±3.7 eggs/female after 20, 45, 90 and 120 days of storage after treated with BT IP thurizide . , respectively as compared 1.7±2.7to 19.8±2.5, 89.3±4.5. 91.5±5.5 and 99.8±1.9 eggs/female in the control. Under store conditions, the percentage of eggs laid/female were significantly decreased to 11.0±1.7 eggs/female after C. chinensis treated with BT IP thurizide after120 days as compared to 98.9±1.9 eggs/female in the control. In all bacterial treatments the percentage of emergence were significantly decreased to 1,1,1,4 and 6 with treated with BT IP thurizide .
SETOR DE CIÊNCIAS AGRÁRIAS PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIAS VETERINÁRIAS

The present dissertation encompasses three different chapters, each one comprises one distinct scientific manuscript. Those texts became a chapter in the present dissertation, each of concerning about the knowledge of the ophthalmology of wild and domestic animals. All studies were conducted by the author and collaborators from Laboratory of Comparative Ophthalmology (LABOCO), Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). The first chapter describes a case of congenital cataract associated with persistence of intraocular fetal vasculature; this report provides detailed information about the normal features of the sambar deer eye, including information obtained by ultrasonographic, gross and histological evaluation. This furthers the understanding of ocular anomalies in these animals, and in addition, provides information for future investigations. The second chapter describes morphological, anatomical eye features and reference values for selected ophthalmic diagnostic tests in the common agouti (Dasyprocta azare) and describes the singular finding of a pigmented optic disc, never reported before in any other wild or domestic species. The establishment of physiological parameters may assist veterinarians in the diagnosis of several ocular diseases that occur in agoutis and other rodent species. The knowledge of normal anatomic variations, such as the previously non reported pigmented optic disc, may provide and interesting source of information and encourages further studies in other rodent species. This intention is possibly plausible if we consider the vast number of different rodents’ species not yet investigated. The third and last chapter consists on the characterization of a novel form of retinal dystrophy in Whippet dogs. This study comprises several aspects of this previously unreported disease, including breeding, clinical and electrophysiologycal characteristics and diagnostic imaging features. All of these findings provide useful information that can be used in further medical and veterinary studies since dog retinal dystrophies are homologous to several forms of hereditary retinal
Brains versus beauty in the knowledge economy

Orientation: It is a widely held belief that attractive people generally experience an easier life and that the door to success is opened by perfect bone structure and a sparkling smile. However, attractiveness might play a far lesser role in individual’s achieving their objectives than has previously been thought. Is it possible that an individual’s qualifications may have a greater influence on the perceptions of managers who assess the suitability of a candidate of a knowledge worker? Research purpose: The study sets out to examine the relative predictive power of physical attractiveness and qualifications in the decision to hire a knowledge worker. Motivation for the study: The research was motivated by a desire to explore the presence of bias in the decision-making process when seemingly rational individuals are exposed to factors such as physical attractiveness of a job candidate and then faced with a decision on whether to hire them. Research design, approach and method: A two-phased experimental design was applied to investigate the existence and strength of the beauty premium amongst a group of managers who were provided with fictitious resumes coupled with photographs of the applicants. These managers were requested to make a hiring decision based on the information supplied. Main findings: Although results confirm the existence of a beauty premium, it was relatively weak. It indicated that qualifications have a greater influence on a manager’s perception of the suitability of a candidate to fill a position of a knowledge worker. Practical or managerial implications: The research draws attention to the possibility of bias in selection decisions and proposes ways in which such potential bias can be limited. Contribution: This study contributes to knowledge concerning the existence or otherwise of a so-called beauty premium, with particular reference to its impact in the knowledge economy.
Egg size variation does not affect offspring performance under intraspecific competition in Nasonia vitripennis, a gregarious parasitoid

Summary 1 As with many insects, egg size variation is correlated with body size in the gregarious parasitoid, Nasonia vitripennis. I use this feature to test the hypothesis that egg size differences among parents affects the ability of their larvae to compete for limited resources within a superparasitized host. 2 I show that egg size asymmetries in parents that oviposit into the same host have no detectable effect on relative offspring performance, even under conditions of resource limitation. 3 Broods within a host that were initiated earlier attained greater average size than competing broods in the same host that were initiated later. 4 Individuals in the more numerous brood emerged consistently larger than individuals in the less numerous brood. 5 The possibility that siblings cooperate in competing for limited resources within a host and the potential role of sibling cooperation on egg size evolution is discussed.
The path to MetalSVM: Shared virtual memory for the SCC

In this paper, we present first successes with building an SCC-related shared virtual memory management system, called MetalSVM, that is implemented using a bare-metal hypervisor, located within a virtualization layer between the SCC’s hardware and the operating system. The basic concept is based on a small kernel developed from scratch by the authors: A separate kernel instance runs on each core and together they build the virtualization layer. High performance is reached by the realization of a scalable inter-kernel communication layer for MetalSVM. In this paper we present the employed concepts and technologies. We briefly describe the current state of the developed components and their interactions leading to the realization of a Shared Virtual Memory system on top of our kernels. First performance results of the SVM system are presented in this work.
Strategic Innovation, Knowledge Sharing and Policy Innovation Factors In E-Government in Developing Countries: The Case of Tanzania

The existing gap from strategic innovation in e-government knowledge creation has affected the effort to timely develop e-government policy in Tanzania. This paper is an attempt to describe multiple innovations outside the Tanzania that involve developing country collaboration, institutional innovation and resources and their linkages to national e-government-think tank. The central argument of this paper is to find factors for enhancing the development of national e-government policy innovation outside Tanzania. We developed national e-government policy framework to orchestrate local innovation and forge ahead of the e-government policy innovation. To do so, we developed and administered a set of the questionnaire from government and private institutions, entrepreneurship and social network group. Data collections were conducted from July 15 to September 20, 2015. The exploratory factor analysis using SPSS version 22 was employed to analyze data for strategic innovation, knowledge sharing, and e-government policy innovation. Four critical factors were identified as the key driver to the success of national e-government policy innovation: Coordinate knowledge sharing on e-government policies in the nation and international institutions; empower and coordinate e-government-think tank forum locally and nationally; create a technoculture society at local and national level; and Support e-government research alliance & engagement respectively. In additional, three developing countries were used as a reference model to support these findings. Our conclusion shows how national e-government-think tank and research alliance can become a strategic innovation in e-government towards coordinating knowledge sharing within private and government institutions. This can represent as "valuable and intellectual assets" for government institutions' stability and change towards national e-government policy innovation process.
Charcoal Briquette Production Using Orange Bagasse and Corn Starch

Carbonization technique (muffle furnace at 450 °C) was applied on the orange bagasse (solid wastes) to produce charcoal briquettes, using corn starch as binder and a 1.0 ton-force manual hydraulic press. The tests applied on the orange charcoal powder and on the orange charcoal powder with corn starch (5, 10 and 15 % w/w) were the proximate analysis, the elemental analysis and the determination of the higher heating value HHV). On the other hand, some tests were carried out on the orange charcoal briquettes, which were the determination of density and the mechanical strength (compressive strength and friability). The results showed that the obtained orange charcoal (OC) has a significant high heating value of 29,000 J/g, and can be used in different processes. When mixed with the binder, its HHV has a small decrease, 27,611 J/g to OC with 5 % of corn starch, 26,857 J/g to OC with 10 % of corn starch and 26,476 J/g to OC with 15 % of corn starch, but still they are considered high values. The fixed carbon content of dehydrated orange bagasse increased from 11.444 % to 68.782 % when it was charred, but it was also observed that fixed carbon content of the charcoal had a maximum decrease of 67 % due to adding the binder (15 % w/w). The briquette that had the highest fixed carbon content was the one with 5% of binder, since this one has the highest amount of pure carbon. However, the briquette with the highest mechanical strength was the one with 15 % of corn starch in its composition. With respect to the carbon content in its composition, all the briquettes showed high content of it (70.67 %, 69.07 % and 70.90 %, respectively to 5, 10 and 15 % of corn starch). The briquette with 10 % of binder also presented a satisfactory mechanical strength, having a loss of 14,932 % in friability testing, ranking as slightly friable and resisted a pressure of 1.406 MPa in the compression test. Thus, the charcoal briquette with 10 % of corn starch is appropriate for use in domestic and commercial way.
Going Local on a Global Platform

Objective: There is broad agreement in the literature on the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets that allow sourcing on a global market and consequently the circumvention of existing supply chains between producer and end user. We examine whether the transformative potential of drug cryptomarkets has been realized in two ways: Are cryptomarket drug sellers found in production and transit countries? and Do we see the increased use of shipping across international borders over time? Method: Using data collected by the DATACRYPTO software tool between 2013 and 2016, we characterize cryptomarket buyer behavior through the product reviews (i.e., sales transactions) posted on 15 cryptomarkets. Findings: Cryptomarket drug sellers are predominantly based in countries of Europe, North America, and Oceania. For both cannabis resin and cocaine sold on cryptomarkets, we find that known production and transit countries are not the primary sources of supplied drugs but rather key countries of consumption. In the case of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, we observe that the Netherlands, a known production country, is the largest supplier. We further observe tendencies over time toward increased localization of cryptomarkets with regard to product destinations. Discussion: Though cryptomarkets offer a potentially global platform for drug distribution, they do not tend to be used as such. We explain our results with reference to buyers’ preferences regarding safety, risk, and convenience, alongside structural limitations for cryptomarket use such as bitcoin availability.
Economic Performance, Wealth Distribution and Credit Restrictions Under Variable Investment: The Open Economy

Potential entrepreneurs require capital for investment in projects. They are differentiated by wealth and can abscond with the funds from a loan. In this setting, agents with little wealth are unable to fund their projects, those with intermediate levels of wealth can fund inefficiently sized projects and only wealthy entrepreneurs can attain the efficient firm size. We show that improvements in the legal framework for loans improves economic efficiency, by improving access to credit and by increasing the size of loans for projects. We also examine the effects of wealth redistribution. Its effects depend on the aggregate wealth of the economy; in countries with low wealth, redistribution may reduce economic efficiency and GDP, while it may increase economic efficiency and GDP in a wealthy economy. Next, we consider an economy with labor and risky projects. We recover the main results of the simpler model, and we examine the effects of having priority of workers in bankruptcy. We show that it leads to conflicting interests between workers in large and small firms as well as conflicts between small and large entrepreneurs with respect to improvements in the financial system.
Age effects on egg quality traits in a 3-way cross egg type chicken developed for backyard poultry farming

Accepted: 12/09/2014 Abstract Egg quality traits were measured at 32, 40, 52, 64 and 72 wks of age in a 3 way cross (PD1 x IWI x PD3) utilizing 20 to 30 eggs at different ages. Egg weight, colour index, albumen and yolk index, Haugh unit, shell thickness, shell % and albumen % differ significantly (p≤0.05) at different age of measurements. Egg weight increases linearly upto 52 wks of age and then it remain stable. Colour index significantly lower during beginning and at later ages the index was higher. Shell thickness was highest during 52 wks of age but at other ages it remains non significant. Yolk index significantly decreased at 72 wks of age compared to other ages of measurements. Albumen index decreases as the age of measurements increases. Haugh unit was significantly low at 72 wks of age compared to 64 and 40 wks of age. Yolk % increases as the age advances but it was statistically non-significant, whereas albumen % decreased significantly at 52, 64 and 72 wks of age compared to 32 wks of age. Shell % increases as the age advances. The results indicates that the age of the birds significantly affect different parameters of egg quality and as the age advances, at the end of cycle most of the quality parameters decreased in magnitude and the yolk content increases compared to the albumen content.
Quality of life in patients with plaque psoriasis treated with biologic therapies

Numerous publisched studies have shown impaired health - related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with psotiasis. Objective. To evaluate the impact of biologic treatments on HRQoL in clinical practice. Methods. A prospective observational study was condeuced at 12 Psocare Centers in Italy and included patients with chronic plaque psoriasis switching to biolocic therapy after a suspension of at list 1 year. HRQoL was assessed at enrolment and after 6 months of treatment with biologics. Results. A totalo of 185 patients were enrolled, of which 178 were included in the analysis. At enro lment, moderate or serever anxiety and drepession were reported by 46.6% and 34,8% of patients, respectively. Psychogical problems were unrelated to objective assessment of disaese severity. Significant proportions of patients reported sexual problems, embarrassment about their condition and appearance, cloting choices being affected, and concern over possible future effects of the disease. After 6 months of treatment with biolologics the propotions of patients reporting these disease - related problems reduced. Conclusion. This study demostred that biologic treatment improve HRQoL in patients with plaque psoriasis. It also highlights the importance of HRQoL as a key measure of the efficacy of treatments for the condition.
Gravitational lensing and dynamics in SL2S\,J02140-0535: Probing the mass out to large radius

We aim to probe the mass of SL2S\,J02140-0535, a galaxy group at $z$ = 0.44 from the Strong Lensing Legacy Survey (SL2S). We combine strong lensing modeling and dynamical constraints. The strong lensing analysis is based on multi-band HST/ACS observations exhibiting strong lensing features that we have followed-up spectroscopically with VLT/FORS2. To constrain the scale radius of an NFW mass profile that cannot be constrained by strong lensing, we propose a new method by taking advantage of the large-scale dynamical information provided by VLT/FORS2 and KECK/LRIS spectroscopy of group members. In constrast to other authors, we show that the observed lensing features in SL2S\,J02140-0535 belong to different background sources: one at $z$ = 1.7 $\pm$ 0.1 produces three images, while the other at $z$ = 1.023 $\pm$ 0.001 has only a single image. Our unimodal NFW mass model reproduces these images very well. It is characterized by a concentration parameter $c_{200}$ = 6.0 $\pm$ 0.6, which is slightly greater than the value expected from $\Lambda$CDM simulations for a mass of M$_{200}$ $\approx$ 1 $\times$ 10$^{14}$ M$_{\sun}$. The spectroscopic analysis of group members also reveals a unimodal structure that exhibits no evidence of merging. We compare our dynamic mass estimate with an independent weak-lensing based mass estimate finding that both are consistent. Our combined lensing and dynamical analysis of SL2S\,J02140-0535 demonstrates the importance of spectroscopic information in reliably identifying the lensing features. Our findings argue that the system is a relaxed, massive galaxy group where mass is traced by light. This work shows a potentially useful method for constraining large-scale properties inaccessible to strong lensing, such as the scale radius of the NFW profile.
Layered Compression-Expansion Fixed Point Theorem

The layered compression-expansion fixed point theorem is an alternative approach to the Krasnoselskii fixed point theorem for perturbed operators. The layered compression-expansion fixed point theorem is used to verify the existence of a fixed point to an operator of the form T = R + S (sum of operators) by verifying the existence of a fixed point for the operator defined by M(r, s) = (R(r + s), S(r + s)). This result is extended to the sum of k operators. Moreover, an example illustrating this technique applied to a conformable right focal boundary value problem is provided.
An Analysis of Macroeconomic Variables Affecting Real Sector Confidence Index: The Case of Turkey

Traditional finance theories are not sufficient to explain investor’s sentiment and psychology. This situation leads to emergence of Behavioral Finance. The aim of this paper is to analyze the macroeconomic factors affecting Real Sector Confidence Index (RSCI) of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT). Within this scope, monthly data for the period between 2007:01 and 2017:03 is analyzed by using Johansen Cointegration Test and Granger Causality Test. According to the results of the analysis, CBRT Composite Leading Indicators Index, Capacity Utilization Rate of Manufacturing Industry (CURMI), Turkish Lira Reference Interest Rate (TRLIBOR) and BIST100 Return Index affect RSCI.