Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toxicity of β-Lactam Antibiotics: Pathophysiology, Molecular Biology and Possible Recovery Strategies

Beta (β)-lactam antibiotics are wide-spectrum antibiotics used for various bacterial infec- tions. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the knowledge about the toxicity of β-lactam antibiotics and issues associated to their inappropriate use. This review has highlighted that β-lactam antibiotics are a group of products that have a chemical structure characterized by a β-lactam ring and are one of the most common antibacterial agents. However, due to the inappropriate use including abuse and misuse, resistance to the β-lactam antibiotics is currently a global crisis. Moreover, even when used appropriately, they have been linked to triggering allergic reactions like urticaria, bronchoconstriction, also severe conditions like immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia and intravascular haemolysis. It is known that some β-lactam antibiotics are neurotoxic, some are nephrotoxic, some are genotoxic and some are toxic to urogenital system. Several factors are involved in the occurrence of toxic effects including the dosage and renal status. Several strategies are possible to overcome β-lactam antibiotics-triggered toxicity, including rational prescrib- ing, substitution combination and phage therapy which seems promising. Public health education for clinical teams and patients is essential in ensuring that this group of antibi- otics are retained in therapeutics. extracellular space. Gram-negative bacteria excrete beta-lactamase into the periplasmic space located between the cytoplasmic membrane and the outer membrane, where the cell wall is located; while the genes that encode beta-lactamases can be located on either (a) the bacterial chromosome; (b) plasmids; or (c) transposable elements which enhance the spread of beta-lactamases among different bacterial species [ 47 ].
How Deposition Parameters Affect Phase Formation in Metals

To understand the mechanism for formation of fcc-cobalt nanowires in electrodeposition, we have systematically studied the effect of deposition potential, pH, and deposition temperature on the formation of fcc Co nanowires by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The Co nanowires deposited at the potential of -1.6V are pure hcp phase. When increasing the value of potential to -2.0V, there are hcp Co and fcc Co crystals in the deposited nanowires. The fraction of fcc Co crystals in the nanowires increases with increasing the potential value. At -3.0V, the nanowires are pure fcc Co. The pH of the solution has little effect on formation of fcc Co nanowires. We have also seen that high concentration and low temperature favors fcc phase whereas low concentration and high temperature favors hcp phase. However, at 35°C the co-occurrence of hcp and fcc phases were also observed. These experimental results can be explained by the classical electrochemical nucleation theory. The formation of fcc Co crystals can be attributed to smaller critical clusters formed at a higher potential value since the smaller critical clusters favor formation of fcc nuclei.
The quality of life of Indonesian patients with advanced cancer

Purpose: In cancer care, Quality of Life (QoL) of patients is generally accepted as an imperative health care outcome. Yet, in Indonesia this aspect has not been placed as an important counted domain during the time period of the patients undergoing the cancer treatments. Therefore the level of QoL of Indonesian patients with advanced cancer has not known yet precisely. This study aims to measure and describe the quality of life of Indonesian patients with advanced cancer. Methods: A survey was conducted at two tertiary hospitals in Central Java Province, Indonesia and involved 112 participants. They all were patients with stage 3 and 4 of the cancer disease. The quality of life was measured using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) version 4 and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp) scale. The internal consistency reliability test of the Indonesian version of the FACT-G scale and the FACIT-Sp scale was yielded values of 0.872 and 0.819 respectively. Results: The majority of subjects participating in this study were female (84%) with age ranged from 20 to 60 years (median = 49 years). The highest numbers of participants were diagnosed with breast cancer (34.8%) and were undergoing chemotherapy (70%). They reported the moderate level of QoL. The emotional, social and spiritual well-beings were rated in the high level. Conclusion: The QoL these patients, particularly in the physical and functional well-beings ought to be put into initiatives to generate better QoL level.
Utility Stock Splits: Signaling Motive Versus Liquidity Motive

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Drying characteristics of papaya (carica papaya L.) during microwave vacuum treatment

Microwave-vacuum drying is of increased interest among food researchers. The microwave power and system pressure plays an important part to ensure that the product quality is improved. The aim of this project is to study the effect of power intensities and system pressures during microwave-vacuum treatment on drying characteristics of Carica papaya L. Samples of papaya were treated in microwave-vacuum drying equipment at different power levels (110, 380 and 750 W) and pressures (200, 450 and 700 mmHg) to achieve 90% reduction of moisture content. The drying rate increased with increasing power intensity, while system pressure showed no significant effect to the reduction of moisture content. Higher microwave power level resulted in shorter drying time of papaya. The entire drying process for the samples occurred in the range of falling rate period.
What Impact does Microfinance Loan Have on Incomes of the Rural Poor in Nigeria

The problem of poverty has attracted specific programmes within the circle of Government administrations particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of such programmes is the development strategy tool of provision of microcredit to the poor through Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Although the issue of the influence of Microfinance loan on poverty reduction has been discussed by some scholars, little efforts have been made to assess the impact of MFIs at the grassroots particularly on those who live in the rural areas. This paper therefore intends to fill the gap in literature by examining the impact of microfinance loan on poverty reduction through the dimension of rural poor income. To achieve this objective, the study adopted multi-stage random sampling technique to collect primary data through the structured questionnaire. A total sample of 1,134 microfinance loan beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were used as respondents from three states in South- West Nigeria. Descriptive Statistics and Multiple Regression Model were explored to describe the characteristics of the sample for the study and evaluate the impact. The results revealed that microfinance has negligible income effects on the rural poor in Nigeria. To this end, the Government is advised to provide necessary amenities that will encourage MFIs to establish branches in the rural areas; and implement more supportive services like education and training on entrepreneurship and health facilities. MFIs should engage cheap labour available in the rural areas and train them for effective performance and easy penetration to the rural poor. Keywords : Development, Poverty, Microfinance Institutions, Income, Nigeria.
Low Cost, Low Power Consumption SPDT GaAs Switches with Copper Metallization and Gate Dielectric

In this dissertation, the performances of the copper (Cu)-metallized AlGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (PHEMT) single-pole-double-throw (SPDT) switches and the AlGaAs/InGaAs metal-oxide-semiconductor PHEMT (MOS-PHEMT) SPDT switches with Al2O3 were studied. Cu-metallized AlGaAs/InGaAs PHEMT SPDT switches utilizing platinum (Pt, 70 nm) as the diffusion barrier is reported. In comparison with the gold (Au)-metallized switches, the Cu-metallized SPDT switches exhibited comparable performance with insertion loss of less than 0.5 dB, isolation larger than 35 dB and the input power for one dB compression (input P1dB) of 27 dBm at 2.5 GHz. To test the thermal stability of the Pt diffusion barrier, these switches were annealed at 250 for 20 h. After the annealing, the switches showed no degradation of the DC characteristics. In addition, after 144 h of high temperature storage life (HTSL) environment test at 150 , these Cu-metallized switches still remained excellent and reliable radio frequency (RF) characteristics and power handling capability. To test the operation reliability of the Cu-metallized switches, the Cu-metallized switches were subjected to on/off (control voltage = +3/0 V exchange) stress test for 24 h at
PROPORTIONAL REASONING OF QUASI-ILLITERATE ADULTS

The main purpose of this paper is to describe the answers given by adults without primary schooling to different ratioand rate-comparison tasks. The framework and the analysed data are part of an ongoing research, in which the responses of subjects of different ages and schoolings are studied. The behaviour of quasi-illiterate adults could throw some light on the effect of school on proportional reasoning in normal conditions; evidence will be shown regarding the similarities of their phenomenological behaviour with the one of people with regular schooling, especially the influence of number structure and context upon proportional reasoning.
Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on the lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

Abstract. The orientation and tectonic regime of the observed crustal/lithospheric stress field contribute to our knowledge of different deformation processes occurring within the Earth's crust and lithosphere. In this study, we analyze the influence of the thermal and density structure of the upper mantle on the lithospheric stress field and topography. We use a 3-D lithosphere–asthenosphere numerical model with power-law rheology, coupled to a spectral mantle flow code at 300 km depth. Our results are validated against the World Stress Map 2016 (WSM2016) and the observation-based residual topography. We derive the upper mantle thermal structure from either a heat flow model combined with a seafloor age model (TM1) or a global S-wave velocity model (TM2). We show that lateral density heterogeneities in the upper 300 km have a limited influence on the modeled horizontal stress field as opposed to the resulting dynamic topography that appears more sensitive to such heterogeneities. The modeled stress field directions, using only the mantle heterogeneities below 300 km, are not perturbed much when the effects of lithosphere and crust above 300 km are added. In contrast, modeled stress magnitudes and dynamic topography are to a greater extent controlled by the upper mantle density structure. After correction for the chemical depletion of continents, the TM2 model leads to a much better fit with the observed residual topography giving a good correlation of 0.51 in continents, but this correction leads to no significant improvement of the fit between the WSM2016 and the resulting lithosphere stresses. In continental regions with abundant heat flow data, TM1 results in relatively small angular misfits. For example, in western Europe the misfit between the modeled and observation-based stress is 18.3°. Our findings emphasize that the relative contributions coming from shallow and deep mantle dynamic forces are quite different for the lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography.
Factors affecting online shopping behavior of consumers in Pakistan

Online shopping trend is very popular now days. This process requires a medium for buying goods and services that is internet. There are many factors that can influence consumer’s online buying behavior. These factors may vary from individual to individual. Financial risk, product risk, Convenience, Non-delivery risk and return policies are key factors discussed in this study. Risk of losing money and financial details has depressing effect on online shopping behavior. Product and convenience risk are essential and considerable risk issues for not shopping online. Key words: Online shopping, Consumer behavior, Pakistan
CORRELATION AND PATH COEFFICIENT ANALYSIS OF YIELD COMPONENTS IN AEROBIC RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.)

A study of interrelationship and cause-effect analysis of grain yield and its component traits was carried out using thirty aerobic rice genotypes. The results indicated that relative water content (0.528), chlorophyll content (0.495), root length (0.478), panicle per plant (0.437), 1000 grain weight (0.366), grains per panicle (0.355), spikelet fertility (0.372), root volume (0.256) showed significant and positive association with grain yield per plant. Path analysis revealed that chlorophyll content, tillers per plant, panicles per plant, root volume, grains per panicle and 1000 grain weight were the major contributor of grain yield per plant and these important plant traits must be taken into consideration when any breeding program for higher paddy yield in rice under aerobic condition is to be planned.
Idiosyncratic volatility and momentum : the performance of Australian equity pension funds

We investigate the importance of idiosyncratic volatility for pricing of equity funds by using a comprehensive dataset of Australian retail equity pension funds from January 1995 to December 2008. We find strong evidence to support that idiosyncratic volatility is a significant pricing factor for returns of the equity funds implying that investors should consider idiosyncratic volatility when evaluating the performance of funds,. We also find strong evidence to support that idiosyncratic volatility is strongly associated with momentum effect of Australian equity pension funds as equity pension funds with high idiosyncratic volatilities exhibit a high momentum effect. JEL Classification: G12
Children's activities in Norwegian kindergartens. Part 1: an overall picture

The reason for this study is rooted in a curiosity about the state of affairs in Norwegian kindergartens: What is going on there? How is the kindergarten arena constituted and formed? More specifically put: What kind of activities do children and teachers engage in? We believe that keeping a focus on activity patterns may lead to broadening our knowledge about children's kindergarten experiences. The study has an explorative approach in the sense that it is based on observations of how children were involved in practically all types of activities that go on in a particular week. About 800 observations have been categorized and statistically analyzed to provide an overall picture of characteristic patterns in the children's daily kindergarten life. In order to put the present study in a wider context we will introduce that the Norwegian Government in recent years has given political priority to increasing the number of places in kindergartens. The latest statistics show that 97.3 per cent of children aged 3—5 attend a kindergarten while the number for children aged 1—5 is 89 percent (Statistics Norway). Even though so many children attend a kindergarten, we know little about what is actually going on there. A search in the Nordic Base of Early Childhood Education and Care — (Ministry of Education) shows that some small scale ethnographic inspired studies have been done on the subject of everyday practice. Empirical studies of the content in Norwegian kindergartens are, however, an exception. Balke and colleagues' (1979) reported activ ities and artifacts applied in kindergartens in the 70s (Balke, Berg, & Fagerli, 1979) are further commented on in our discussion. More recently, Ostrem et al (2009) studied the implementation of the new curriculum in Norwegian kindergartens. They reported that kinder garten teachers claim to have become more conscious about the subject areas in the new Framework Plan (see Table 2). Nevertheless, the researchers conclude that it is hard to see concretely how teachers actually work with the various subject areas (Ostrem et al, 2009, p. 158). We conclude that we certainly need more research on children's activities in kindergartens and hopefully our study can be a contribution to this research field. We admit, however, that our study pro vides mainly empirical evidence along with a platform where more theoretical discussions about the social and cultural consequences of the activity patterns described can be raised. In our view, theoretical perspectives on children's daily activities have to be further developed in kindergarten research. The present study is part of the research project Kindergarten as an arena for cul tural formation, which aims to contribute to new knowledge and understandings of how education is cul Jan Helge Kallestad, Elin Eriksen Odegaard
The Mathematical Experiences of Black Males in a Predominantly Black Urban Middle School and Community

There is a growing body of research focused on the mathematical experiences of Black males in the United States of America. This research has emerged to challenge the dominant narrative in mathematics education focused on Black males’ low performance on international, national, and state standardized tests. There is very little research that has explored the impact of high-stakes testing in mathematics on Black males in urban areas. Using qualitative research methods, this study examines the middle school mathematics experiences of four Black males and provides insight into their responses to challenges they face in urban communities, schools, and math classrooms. Critical race theory was used to illuminate Black males’ desire to be challenged in the classroom and describe the community, school, and classroom conditions that impact their lived realities and mathematics experiences.
Fragmentation of hardwood floodplain forests — how does it affect species composition?

The present study focuses on how spatial patch characteristics, such as patch area, shape and isolation, affect the natural species composition of hardwood floodplain forests. The natural species composition is defined according to species groups obtained using phytocoenological methods. The aim of the study was to establish the relationship between fragmentation indices and the number and proportion of species in each functional species group stated in this paper. This study is based on a dataset of 118 phytocoenological releves sampled using the standard methodology of the Zurich-Montpellier School, ordered within the suballiance Ulmenion (mixed oak-elm-ash forests along the great rivers). The study area is situated in Central Europe, in the northern part of the Pannonian biogeographic region. The digital map of hardwood floodplain forests was rasterized to 25 m cell size. The FRAGSTATS software was used to obtain fragmentation indices, and generalised linear models tested the influence of forest patch fragmentation indices on species composition. Our analyses confirm that large hardwood floodplain forests are essential for natural species composition conservation, and that large fragment areas are highly susceptible to non-native species penetration. We also determined that small, compact fragments contain very valuable remnants of well-preserved natural hardwood floodplain forests with a high proportion of specialised Ulmenion species. However, disruption to hardwood floodplain forest natural borders engenders a greater threat to its natural species composition than decline in patch area, because disruption results in increased Shape index, increased contact with the surrounding environment, greater edge effect and a higher proportion of alien species in the forest community.
Production of crude palm oil through microwave pretreatment cum solvent extraction / Jason Tan Chia Xern

Conventional palm oil milling involves multiple steps after fruit collection and the oil clarification step involves introduction of large amount of water into the pressed oil, which results in large amount of wastewater. The present study investigated a combined process of pretreatment using microwave and solvent extraction to mill crude palm oil, with no introduction of water or steam. High oil yield was obtained from fresh palm fruits through microwave pretreatment in a 42 L, 1000 W and 2450 MHz microwave oven; and followed by hexane extraction. Besides obtaining up to 30% oil yield, the established optimum condition (microwave pretreatment of 10 min, solvent extraction of 12 h) also produced oil with low free fatty acid (<1.0%) and acceptable anisidine value (<3.0 meq/kg). The produced oil has a novel fatty acid composition that does not resemble conventional crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil. The leached oil during microwave pretreatment has 6.3% lauric acid, while the subsequently solvent extracted oil has 1.5%. Factors affecting the oil quality were investigated and duration of the microwave pretreatment is the major attribution to poor oil quality. The duration has to be optimized to result in ruptured fruitlets to ensure solvent extraction effectiveness; but not to the extent of causing oxidation. The present study suggests that the microwave pretreatment should not be longer than 12 min as the oil produced after 15 mins contains oxidation products, namely, 1-methylcyclopentanol (12.96%), 1-tetradecanol (9.44%), 1-nonadecene (7.22%), nonanal (7.13%) and 1-tridecene (5.09%), which is postulated to be the results of fibre degradation to oxidation products. In summary, the findings in the present study show that microwave pretreatment is a potential alternative milling process for crude palm oil, with advantageous omission of wet treatment with steam in the current conventional and commercial process.
Explaining Cohesion Linkages in Workgroups: The Cooperative Communication in Collectivism and High Power Distance Workgroup Context

This study develops a multi-level model to advance research on how cultural context in workplace moderates the relationship between cooperative communication and group cohesion in a collectivist workplace setting. We tested the model by using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) with the data obtained from 375 employees representing 48 workgroups in a Malaysian organization. It is revealed that at the group level of analysis, cooperative communication is more strongly related to group cohesion-based in the collectivist cultural context in the individual level of analysis. On the other hand, the power distance context in the work group at the individual level of analysis did not moderate the relationship between cooperative communication and group cohesion in the group level of analysis. Practical implications are discussed. Keywords: leader-member exchange, team-member exchange, cooperative communication, group cohesion, collectivist and power distance.