Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impediments to Faculty Engaging in Web-Based Instruction: Clarification of Governing Policies

An exploratory study was conducted with faculty and administrators at Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) to determine the level of reported knowledge and experience with policies that govern Web-based instruction (WBI). Result indicated that faculty had little experience with the policies and many had not participated in policy development. Lack of communication of the policies was also reported to be a barrier to participation. Recommendations on policy information adoption and dissemination were made based on the findings of the study. Purpose of the Study Higher education is in continual transition and one cannot underestimate the influence of technology on everyday life of learners and educators. Web-based Instruction (WBI) is among the forces influencing higher learning and instruction and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have not been left out. However, while technology offers new options, there is also the danger of losing some of the important attributes of higher education. These attributes include the commitment to providing the less advantaged with an opportunity for education, education’s tradition of addressing student and societal needs, and the emphasis on learning and scholarship. There is a technology and information gap that is evident in the Black community and this his gap has kept the poor, rural, and minority populations from participating and benefiting from the information technology revolution and this trend is inevitably carried on to the Black college environment (Hamilton, 2001). While there are numerous studies examining older methods of distance education, few comprehensive empirical studies have provided evidence of the effectiveness of WBI in HBCUs. Little research has been conducted in the area of WBI focusing specifically on input from faculty. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence faculty participation in WBI at HBCUs. This exploratory study was conducted to determine the factors that influence faculty participation in WBI at seven HBCUs, including determining the level of reported knowledge and experience with policies that govern WBI. In this mixed-design study, data used to investigate the research questions came from responses from one hundred and forty-nine faculty and administrators (deans and departments chairs) at seven public HBCUs that offer online curricula. An online questionnaire was designed to collect data using a four-point scale, open-ended items, and follow-up interviews.
On the Mediterranean Water Composition

AbstractThe Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) spills from the Mediterranean Sea (east North Atlantic basin) west off the Strait of Gibraltar. As MOW outflows, it entrains eastern North Atlantic Central Waters (ENACW) and Intermediate Waters to form the neutrally buoyant Mediterranean Water (MW) that can be traced over the entire North Atlantic basin. Its high salinity content influences the thermohaline properties of the intermediate–deep water column in the North Atlantic and its dynamics. Here, the composition of MW in its source region (the Gulf of Cadiz, west off Strait of Gibraltar) is investigated on the basis of an optimum multiparameter analysis. The results obtained indicate that mixing of MOW (34.1% ± 0.3%) occurs mainly with overlying ENACW (57.1% ± 0.8%) in a process broadly known as central water entrainment. A diluted form (80% of dilution) of the Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) reaches the region and also takes part in MW formation (8.3% ± 0.5%). Finally, the underlying Labrador Sea Wat.
Influence of Honey on Immune Response Against Newcastle Disease Vaccine

3 Abstract: This study aims to investigate the effect of supplement of honey in drinking water on immune response of broiler chicks. A solution of 10% of honey in drinking water was used for 28 days. We evaluated the mortality rate, body weight, lymphoid organ weight and immune response of broiler chicks previously vaccinated with Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) vaccine. The use of honey as a natural feed additive in drinking water through the experiment reduced mortality rates. The results revealed an increase in body weight (73- 92.2%), lymphoid organ weight (22-29%) as well as an increase in antibody titer (6-9%) of chicks previously vaccinated with Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) vaccine.
Empirical Study of Travel Time Estimation and Reliability

This paper explores the travel time distribution of different types of urban roads, the link and path average travel time, and variance estimation methods by analyzing the large-scale travel time dataset detected from automatic number plate readers installed throughout Beijing. The results show that the best-fitting travel time distribution for different road links in 15 min time intervals differs for different traffic congestion levels. The average travel time for all links on all days can be estimated with acceptable precision by using normal distribution. However, this distribution is not suitable to estimate travel time variance under some types of traffic conditions. Path travel time can be estimated with high precision by summing the travel time of the links that constitute the path. In addition, the path travel time variance can be estimated by the travel time variance of the links, provided that the travel times on all the links along a given path are generated by statistically independent distributions. These findings can be used to develop and validate microscopic simulations or online travel time estimation and prediction systems.
Understanding the Connections Between Consumer Motivations and Buying Behavior: The Case of the Local Food System Movement

Local and organic food systems represent some of the many food sector innovations of the past decade that signal that consumers are increasingly diverse and have heterogeneous preferences that reflect their unique values and preferences (Thilmany, Bond and Bond, 2008). Yet, regardless of the significant attention and growth surrounding sustainable foods, there is still a demand for research investigating the intersection of economic and psychological factors that can aid in predicting and explaining consumer behavior. This paper uses an attitude-behavior framework, the Theory of Planned Behavior, to explore the predictive ability of psychological concepts of willingness to pay for different attributes associated with sustainable foods. Consumer attitudes toward organic, fair trade and local labeled food as well as their level of "effectiveness" are measured in an effort to understand behavioral intentions. This study uses approximately 1000 responses from a 2008 nationwide survey of consumers to investigate the role of public benefits assigned to sustainable food products manifesting in a potential increase in willingness to pay.
Characterization of test specimens produced in reduced size for X-ray microtomography ( μ-CT ) tests

Resumo The need to use reduced sample sizes, in order to attain improved spatial resolution in (μ-CT) tests applied in Portland cement composites, makes researchers perform the fractionation of materials to obtain samples with dimensions compatible with the capacity of the scanning equipment, which might cause alterations in the microstructure under analysis. Therefore, a test specimen (TS) with dimensions compatible with the scanning capacity of a microtomography system that operates with an X-ray tube and voltage ranging from 20 to 100 kV was proposed. Axial compression strength tests were made and their total porosity was assessed by an apparent density and solid fraction density ratio, which were obtained by means of mercury and helium pycnometry and μ-CT technique, respectively. The adoption of that TS has shown to be viable for providing a sample with a higher level of representation.
Territory size variations in wintering Finsch’s Wheatears, Oenanthe finschii

Abstract Finsch’s Wheatear, Oenathe finschii, is a widespread winter visitor in Jordan, primarily in arid – semi arid hilly areas with a mean annual rainfall of 100–300 mm. The average territory size in winter varied among the different study areas from 1.6 to 3.4 ha. This variation was not related to productivity and food density, but may have been caused by differences in habitat structure and interspecific territoriality by the Mourning Wheatear, Oenanthe lugens, which was present in half of the study areas. Territory size variations were not sex-related although females were apparently excluded from more productive habitats by dominant males.
Der Einfluss des Neurokinin-1 Rezeptor Antagonismus auf die cholinerge Transmission in definierten Gehirngebieten und dessen Rolle bei Lern- und Gedächtnisprozessen in Rattus Norvegicus

Substanz P (SP) ist ein Neuropeptid der Tachykinin-Familie, das an Neurokinin (NK) Rezeptoren bindet. Es hat die hochste Affinitat zum NK-1 Rezeptor, bindet jedoch auch an den NK-2 und NK-3 Rezeptor. Fur SP wurden promnestische, anxiolytische und verstarkende Effekte in Rattus Norvegicus nachgewiesen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Rolle des NK-1 Rezeptors bei Lern- und Gedachtnisprozessen untersucht. Der selektive nicht-peptiderge NK-1 Rezeptor Antagonist SR140333 wurde in Konzentrationen von 1, 3 und 9mg/kg intraperitoneal (i.p.) verabreicht und mittels in vivo Mikrodialyse in anasthesierten Tieren dessen Einfluss auf die extrazellulare Acetylcholin (ACh) Konzentration in Zielstrukturen der cholinergen Neurone des basalen Vorderhirns, dem Frontalcortex, der Amygdala und dem Hippocampus gemessen. Diese Untersuchung ergab im Hippocampus einen dosisabhangigen Anstieg in der ACh-Konzentration, die 60 Minuten nach der Behandlung wieder auf das Aufgangsniveau abfiel. Die Verhaltensrelevanz dieses Befundes wurde in verschiedenen Paradigmen getestet. Eine Injektion von SR140333 nach dem Lerndurchgang hatte promnestische Effekte auf die Habituation an das Offenfeld und die Erinnerungsleistung im passiven Vermeidungslernen. Im Rahmen dieses Promotionsvorhabens wurde ein Paradigma zur Untersuchung des episodischen Gedachtnis bei Ratten entwickelt. In Kontrollstudien zu diesem Paradigma wurden durch eine einmalige Injektion von physiologischer Kochsalzlosung Defizite im episodischen Gedachtnis bei Ratten beobachtet, die durch eine Stressreaktion auf die Injektionsprozedur selbst erklart werden konnen. Eine einmalige i.p.-Verabreichung von 1mg/kg SR140333 vor dem Lerndurchgang kompensierte die beobachteten stressinduzierten Defizite und fuhrte zu einer vollstandigen Wiederherstellung des episodischen Gedachtnisses bei Ratten. Diese Ergebnisse deuten auf promnestische Effekte durch NK-1 Rezeptor Antagonismus hin. Die Substanzklasse der NK-1 Rezeptor Antagonisten konnte damit von therapeutischem Nutzen bei der Behandlung von dementiellen Erkrankungen wie Morbus Alzheimer sein, zu deren fruhesten Symptomen z.B. Defizite des episodischen Gedachtnis gehoren.
e-VLBI observations of Circinus X-1: monitoring of the quiescent and flaring radio emission on au scales

A recent detection of the peculiar neutron star X-ray binary Circinus X-1 with electronic very long baseline interferometry (e-VLBI) prompted the suggestion that compact, non-variable radio emission persists through the entire 16.6-d orbit of the binary system. We present the results of a high angular resolution monitoring campaign conducted with the Australian Long Baseline Array in real-time e-VLBI mode. e-VLBI observations of Circinus X-1 were made on alternate days over a period of 20 d covering the full binary orbit. A compact radio source associated with Circinus X-1 was clearly detected at orbital phases following periastron passage, but no compact radio emission was detected at any other orbital phase, ruling out the presence of a persistent, compact emitting region at our sensitivity levels. The jet was not resolved at any epoch of our 1.4-GHz monitoring campaign, suggesting that the ultrarelativistic flow previously inferred to exist in this source is likely to be dark. We discuss these findings within the context of previous radio monitoring of Circinus X-1.
An investigation of methods for injecting emissions from boreal wildfires using WRF-Chem during ARCTAS

Abstract. The Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) is considered a "next generation" mesoscale meteorology model. The inclusion of a chemistry module (WRF-Chem) allows transport simulations of chemical and aerosol species such as those observed during NASA's Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) in 2008. The ARCTAS summer deployment phase during June and July coincided with large boreal wildfires in Saskatchewan and Eastern Russia. One of the most important aspects of simulating wildfire plume transport is the height at which emissions are injected. WRF-Chem contains an integrated one-dimensional plume rise model to determine the appropriate injection layer. The plume rise model accounts for thermal buoyancy associated with fires and local atmospheric stability. This paper describes a case study of a 10 day period during the Spring phase of ARCTAS. It compares results from the plume model against those of two more traditional injection methods: Injecting within the planetary boundary layer, and in a layer 3–5 km above ground level. Fire locations are satellite derived from the GOES Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) and the MODIS thermal hotspot detection. Two methods for preprocessing these fire data are compared: The prep_chem_sources method included with WRF-Chem, and the Naval Research Laboratory's Fire Locating and Monitoring of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE). Results from the simulations are compared with satellite-derived products from the AIRS, MISR and CALIOP sensors. When FLAMBE provides input to the 1-D plume rise model, the resulting injection heights exhibit the best agreement with satellite-observed injection heights. The FLAMBE-derived heights are more realistic than those utilizing prep_chem_sources. Conversely, when the planetary boundary layer or the 3–5 km a.g. l. layer were filled with emissions, the resulting injection heights exhibit less agreement with observed plume heights. Results indicate that differences in injection heights produce different transport pathways. These differences are especially pronounced in area of strong vertical wind shear and when the integration period is long.
N400 and P600 Effect of Chinese Words Recognition

Word recognition is an important part of the processing in reading comprehension. N400 component is generally considered as semantic index of word processing, and P600 component is used to interpret syntactic processing. But the discovery of â€œSemantic P600â€ effect prompts people to interpret the meaning of P600 again. This study takes normal developing teenagers (ages 12-14) as research subject by using the event-related potentials (ERP) to examine the N400 and P600 effect of Chinese words processing of the true words and pseudo words recognition. The results show that the reaction time of the pseudo words are longer than that of the true words and N400 can also be evoked by the independent Chinese words; the pseudo words evoked larger amplitude of N400 than that of the true words. Compared with the true words, the latency of P600 of pseudo words are significantly delayed. The amplitudes of P600 evoked by true words are larger than by the Pseudo words. The present results suggest that N400 and P600 have different functions and significance in words recognition, N400 reflects the semantic priming effect, P600 reflects the semantic integration in the late stages of semantic processing.
Surface water monitoring in small water bodies: potential and limits of multi-sensor Landsat time series

Abstract. Hydrometric monitoring of small water bodies (1–10 ha) remains rare, due to their limited size and large numbers, preventing accurate assessments of their agricultural potential or their cumulative influence in watershed hydrology. Landsat imagery has shown its potential to support mapping of small water bodies, but the influence of their limited surface areas, vegetation growth, and rapid flood dynamics on long-term surface water monitoring remains unquantified. A semi-automated method is developed here to assess and optimize the potential of multi-sensor Landsat time series to monitor surface water extent and mean water availability in these small water bodies. Extensive hydrometric field data (1999–2014) for seven small reservoirs within the Merguellil catchment in central Tunisia and SPOT imagery are used to calibrate the method and explore its limits. The Modified Normalised Difference Water Index (MNDWI) is shown out of six commonly used water detection indices to provide high overall accuracy and threshold stability during high and low floods, leading to a mean surface area error below 15 %. Applied to 546 Landsat 5, 7, and 8 images over 1999–2014, the method reproduces surface water extent variations across small lakes with high skill (R2=0.9) and a mean root mean square error (RMSE) of 9300 m2. Comparison with published global water datasets reveals a mean RMSE of 21 800 m2 (+134 %) on the same lakes and highlights the value of a tailored MNDWI approach to improve hydrological monitoring in small lakes and reduce omission errors of flooded vegetation. The rise in relative errors due to the larger proportion and influence of mixed pixels restricts surface water monitoring below 3 ha with Landsat (Normalised RMSE = 27 %). Interferences from clouds and scan line corrector failure on ETM+ after 2003 also decrease the number of operational images by 51 %, reducing performance on lakes with rapid flood declines. Combining Landsat observations with 10 m pansharpened Sentinel-2 imagery further reduces RMSE to 5200 m2, displaying the increased opportunities for surface water monitoring in small water bodies after 2015.
Wetting and bonding characteristics of selected liquid metals with a high–power diode–laser–treated alumina bioceramic

Changes in the wettability characteristics of an alumina bioceramic occasioned by high–power diode–laser (HPDL) surface treatment were apparent from the observed reduction in the contact angle. Such changes were due to the HPDL bringing about reductions in the surface roughness, increases in the surface O2 content and increases in the polar component of the surface energy. Additionally, HPDL treatment of the alumina–bioceramic surface was found to effect an improvement in the bonding characteristics by increasing the work of adhesion. An electronic approach was used to elucidate the bonding characteristics of the alumina bioceramic before and after HPDL treatment. It is postulated that HPDL–induced changes to the alumina bioceramic produced a surface with a reduced band–gap energy, which consequently increased the work of adhesion by increasing the electron transfer at the metal–oxide interface and thus the metal–oxide interactions. Furthermore, it is suggested that the increase in the work of adhesion of the alumina bioceramic after HPDL treatment was due to a correlation existing between the wettability and ionicity of the alumina bioceramic, for it is believed that the HPDL–treated surface is less ionic in nature than the untreated surface and therefore exhibits better wettability characteristics.
KMOS3D: DYNAMICAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE MASS BUDGET IN EARLY STAR-FORMING DISKS

We exploit deep integral-field spectroscopic observations with KMOS/Very Large Telescope of 240 star-forming disks at to dynamically constrain their mass budget. Our sample consists of massive ( ) galaxies with sizes . By contrasting the observed velocity and dispersion profiles with dynamical models, we find that on average the stellar content contributes of the total dynamical mass, with a significant spread among galaxies (68th percentile range ). Including molecular gas as inferred from CO- and dust-based scaling relations, the estimated baryonic mass adds up to of the total for the typical galaxy in our sample, reaching at . We conclude that baryons make up most of the mass within the disk regions of high-redshift star-forming disk galaxies, with typical disks at being strongly baryon-dominated within Re. Substantial object-to-object variations in both stellar and baryonic mass fractions are observed among the galaxies in our sample, larger than what can be accounted for by the formal uncertainties in their respective measurements. In both cases, the mass fractions correlate most strongly with measures of surface density. High- galaxies feature stellar mass fractions closer to unity, and systems with high inferred gas or baryonic surface densities leave less room for additional mass components other than stars and molecular gas. Our findings can be interpreted as more extended disks probing further (and more compact disks probing less far) into the dark matter halos that host them.
Effects of land use practices on livelihoods in the transboundary sub - catchments of the Lake Victoria Basin

The Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) is experiencing changes in land use due to both anthropogenic and natural drivers which are critical to the sustainability of the resources and livelihoods of the communities. Indeed the resultant land use practices and decisions made by the communities on the use of the land rely on the changes in the basin. This paper presents an analysis of the land use practices in the Lake Victoria Basin using two sub-catchments of Mara River (Tanzania) and Sio River (Kenya-Uganda) as case studies. Collection of mainly socio-economic and environmental data involved in-depth interviews of 679 respondents from the midstream and downstream zones of the sub-catchments. The findings reveal conspicuous changes in community livelihoods as a result of expansion of cultivation, overgrazing on the river banks, increased use of wetlands areas, the disappearance and extreme fragmentation of forest, bush land and appearance and the diminishing of settlements. The hitherto common resources have become scarce forcing farmers to try intensifying and diversifying their farm production with little success due to poor traditional farming practices. Although local initiatives are leading to change, there is need for integrated approaches of indigenous knowledge, technical agricultural research, economic analysis, and policy studies and reforms. Key words: Land use practices, livelihoods, Indigenous knowledge, Lake Victoria basi
Interpersonal behaviour and social perception in a hierarchy: The interpersonal power and behaviour model

Power is a core dimension of social interactions and relationships. The present article addresses how power hierarchies form, how power is expressed and perceived via verbal and nonverbal behaviour during social interactions, and whether power of others can accurately be assessed. Taking into account the inherently relational and interactional nature of the power concept, an interpersonal power and behaviour model is presented. The model explicitly differentiates between different facets of power (status, position power, personality dominance, competence, experienced power, and perceived power) and it is suggested that these facets can moderate the power–behaviour link. Research evidence is provided to illustrate the importance of a refined view of the concept of power and of integrating the different power facets in theorizing about power.