Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The radiological diagnosis of pneumonia in children

Despite the importance of paediatric pneumonia as a cause of short and long-term morbidity and mortality worldwide, a reliable gold standard for its diagnosis remains elusive. The utility of clinical, microbiological and radiological diagnostic approaches varies widely within and between populations and is heavily dependent on the expertise and resources available in various settings. Here we review the role of radiology in the diagnosis of paediatric pneumonia. Chest radiographs (CXRs) are the most widely employed test, however, they are not indicated in ambulatory settings, cannot distinguish between viral and bacterial infections and have a limited role in the ongoing management of disease. A standardised definition of alveolar pneumonia on a CXR exists for epidemiological studies targeting bacterial pneumonias but it should not be extrapolated to clinical settings. Radiography, computed tomography and to a lesser extent ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging play an important role in complicated pneumonias but there are limitations that preclude their use as routine diagnostic tools. Large population-based studies are needed in different populations to address many of the knowledge gaps in the radiological diagnosis of pneumonia in children, however, the feasibility of such studies is an important barrier.
The effect of TQM on organisational performance: empirical evidence from the textile sector of a developing country using SEM

Total quality management (TQM) is a widely used management philosophy across many sectors. Organisations implement TQM in order to gain competitive advantage in terms of quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability. However, the literature seems inconclusive about the positive effect of TQM on organisational performance. The effect of national culture on TQM implementation is gaining importance; thus, several studies argue that the effect of TQM practices on organisational performance needs to be evaluated in different social, cultural, and economic settings. Furthermore, this study also contributes in the important debate in the operations management literature related to convergence versus divergence argument in TQM implementation. Therefore, this study provides empirical evidence from a developing country in South Asia. Data were collected from the member companies of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association by using a questionnaire. The questionnaires were sent to 210 textile companies and the respondents were quality or production managers. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the effect of TQM practices on organisational performance. The findings of this study indicate that TQM has a highly positive effect on organisational performance. These findings support the divergence argument, which indicates that the positive effect of TQM on organisational performance is not limited only to companies located in developed nations, but can also be equally achieved in other parts of the world.
Growth and yield performance of Corchorus olitorious L. influenced by levels of poultry manure in Niger-Delta, Nigeria

A field study was conducted at the Teaching and Research Farm of Delta State University, Asaba Campus in 2010 and in 2011 to investigate the effect of different levels of poultry manure on the growth and yield of Corchorus olitorious L. in Asaba, Nigeria. Seeds were sown at the rate of 15 × 30 cm achieving a population density of 222,222 plants/ha in a randomized completely block design, replicated 4 times. Poultry droppings were applied at the rate of 0, 10, 20 and 30 t/ha. Data were collected from net stands on plant height, stem girth, number of primary branches and number of leaves at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after planting (WAP). Harvest was done from 8 WAP by cutting method and weighed for total biomass and later oven dried at 80°C for 24 h for dry weight while 1000 seeds were weighed from each treatment. The result shows that the experimental site was poor in soil fertility. The plant height, girth, number of primary branches and leaves increased with age and application of poultry manure. The plant height (66.00±0.01 and 70.00±0.04), stem girth (4.40±0.02 and 4.60±0.05), number of leaves (50.82±0.02 and 56.10±0.04), fresh weight (21.90±0.05 and 23.62±0.10) and dry weight (5.10±0.02 and 5.49±0.05) were statistically similar at 20 and 30 t/ha while the number of primary branches and 1000 seed weight did not differ (P > 0.05) at application of poultry manure. This study hereby recommended that application of 20 t/ha of poultry manure may contribute to improve C. olitorious L. production. Keywords : Plant height, stem girth, number of primary branches, number of leaves, dry yield, fresh yield, seed yield, poultry manure, Corchorus olitorious , soil fertilization African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(19), pp. 2575-2580
Corporate Governance Practices and Earnings Management in Islamic Banking Institutions

This paper examines corporate governance (CG) characteristics and relates them to earnings management (EM) behaviours in the context of a large emerging sector, Islamic banking industry. Empirical Investigation used multivariate probit analysis and relied on a sample of 90 Islamic Banks over the period of the years 2000-2009. Findings revealed that CG issues in Islamic banking differ significantly from those of the conventional system. Main differences are found with regard to philosophical aspects, including objectives of the bank, natures of contract involved, key players in the CG practice as well as the relationships between the players. We verified that these aspects provide strong justification for an additional layer in the CG of an Islamic bank being the Shari'ah Supervisory Board (SSB). The mechanism and tools for the effective implementation of CG are relatively the same as the conventional system. Results suggest also that audit committee plays a more significant role in moderating EM than the other aspects of CG. Moreover, the estimated coefficients of SSB embeddedness suggest that an in-house SSB is effective in mitigating EM. The results, however, do not provide evidence that SSB characteristics, such as SSB size, SSB members objectivity and SSB members competence are significant in mitigating EM. By the same, results revealed no difference between Islamic banks with and without governance committee in terms of EM intensity. K eywords : Earnings Management, Corporate Governance, Islamic Banking Institutions.
Investigation of in vitro thrombolytic potential of ethanolic extract of Momordica charantia fruits: an anti-diabetic medicinal plant

The study was carried out to investigate the thrombolytic potential of crude ethanolic extract of fruits of Momordica charantia, an anti-diabetic medicinal plant, using an in vitro assay method. The thrombolytic investigation involved five young Bangladeshi volunteers to get different nature of blood samples. Five concentrations of the crude extract were used for the study, with a standard (Streptokinase), and negative control (sterilized distilled water) to validate the method. The thrombolytic nature of the plant was found significant (p < 0.01), except for the concentration 4 mg/ml, when compared with the negative control (water) at different doses. The plant showed mild clot lysis, i.e. 2. 16Â±0.723%, 5. 06Â±1.058%, 8. 60Â±0.626%, 11. 64Â±0.747%, and 15. 18Â±1.691% at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mg/ml concentrations respectively, while the standard (streptokinase) showed 47. 22Â±2.738% clot lysis. Therefore, the obtained results suggest that the crude ethanolic extract of Momordica charantia fruits possess light thrombolytic activity in vitro; however, in vivo thrombolytic potentiality and active component(s) of the extract for clot lysis are yet to be discovered.
The CO Luminosity Density at High-z (COLDz) Survey: A Sensitive, Large-area Blind Search for Low-J CO Emission from Cold Gas in the Early Universe with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array

We describe the CO Luminosity Density at High-z (COLDz) survey, the first spectral line deep field targeting CO(1–0) emission from galaxies at z = 1.95–2.85 and CO(2–1) at z = 4.91–6.70. The main goal of COLDz is to constrain the cosmic density of molecular gas at the peak epoch of cosmic star formation. By targeting both a wide (∼51 arcmin2) and a deep (∼9 arcmin2) area, the survey is designed to robustly constrain the bright end and the characteristic luminosity of the CO(1–0) luminosity function. An extensive analysis of the reliability of our line candidates and new techniques provide detailed completeness and statistical corrections as necessary to determine the best constraints to date on the CO luminosity function. Our blind search for CO(1–0) uniformly selects starbursts and massive main-sequence galaxies based on their cold molecular gas masses. Our search also detects CO(2–1) line emission from optically dark, dusty star-forming galaxies at z > 5. We find a range of spatial sizes for the CO-traced gas reservoirs up to ∼40 kpc, suggesting that spatially extended cold molecular gas reservoirs may be common in massive, gas-rich galaxies at z ∼ 2. Through CO line stacking, we constrain the gas mass fraction in previously known typical star-forming galaxies at z = 2–3. The stacked CO detection suggests lower molecular gas mass fractions than expected for massive main-sequence galaxies by a factor of ∼3–6. We find total CO line brightness at ∼34 GHz of 0.45 ± 0.2 μK, which constrains future line intensity mapping and CMB experiments.
The Impact of Tracheotomy on the Eventual Outcome of Surgery for Benign Laryngotracheal Stenosis in a Tertiary Health Care Setup

Introduction: Acquired benign laryngotracheal stenosis is often preventable. A majority of such patients have a history of some airway intervention, ranging from a planned endotracheal intubation for the purpose of anesthesia, to an emergency tracheotomy in the setting of stridor. The primary aim of the first treating clinician is to secure the airway, and often these patients already have a tracheotomy at the time of initial presentation. Materials and methods: We analyzed 80 patients that have been managed for varying grades and locations of acquired benign laryngotracheal stenosis presenting to a tertiary healthcare centre, and analyzed the impact of tracheotomy on the eventual outcome. Summary and conclusion: Tracheotomies performed in patients suffering from stenosis in the airway pose technical challenges. If planned even in the most urgent situations, they can play a vital role in determining the eventual outcome of the definitive treatment. The site, technique and care of the tracheotomy are key factors in determining the eventual outcome.
Application of Fuzzy and ABC Algorithm for DG Placement for Minimum Loss in Radial Distribution System

Distributed Generation (DG) is a promising solution to many power system problems such as voltage regulation, power loss, etc. This paper presents a new methodology using Fuzzy and Artificial Bee Colony algorithm (ABC) for the placement of Distributed Generators (DG) in the radial distribution systems to reduce the real power losses and to improve the voltage profile. A two-stage methodology is used for the optimal DG placement. In the first stage, Fuzzy is used to find the optimal DG locations and in the second stage, ABC algorithm is used to find the size of the DGs corresponding to maximum loss reduction. The ABC algorithm is a new population based meta heuristic approach inspired by intelligent foraging behavior of honeybee swarm. The advantage of ABC algorithm is that it does not require external parameters such as cross over rate and mutation rate as in case of genetic algorithm and differential evolution and it is hard to determine these parameters in prior. The proposed method is tested on standard IEEE 33 bus test system and the results are presented and compared with different approaches available in the literature. The proposed method has outperformed the other methods in terms of the quality of solution and computational efficiency.
Adsorption of Direct Yellow 4 Dye on the Silica Prepared From Locally Available Sodium Silicate

In this study the ability of removing direct yellow 4 dye (DY4) from aqueous solutions using silica as adsorbent was examined. The silica was prepared from locally available sodium silicate. The effect of various experimental parameters contact time, amount of silica used, pH, ionic strength and temperature were investigated in a batch adsorption technique. The obtained experimental data shows that, the adsorption of direct yellow 4 dye was increased directly with increasing concentration, amount of silica, added sodium chloride and temperature in optimum pH (7) and equilibrium time of 45 min. The kinetic data were analyzed through pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order and intraparticle diffusion models. The pseudo second-order model best represented adsorption kinetics. Additionally, this study used the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms to describe equilibrium adsorption and calculating thermodynamic values. The equilibrium adsorption of direct yellow 4 on silica is best fitted in the Langmuir isotherm (R 2 =0.981).
Involvement of Phenolic Compounds in Anaerobic Flooding Germination of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

By this study, thirty rice varieties were evaluated for anaerobic flooding tolerance using the direct sowing method. Phenolic profiles of strong and weak tolerant varieties were identified and compared based on HPLC chromatograms. The germination rates and shoot heights of rice were recorded for calculating the seedling vigor, which indicate the tolerant ability of rice in flooding condition. The results revealed a high variation of germination rate (10.01 to 100%), shoot height (0.35 to 78.17 mm) and seedling vigor (0.05 to 72.83). There was a high correlation between (r = 0.71) germination rate in 5 cm and 10 cm flood. Phenolic and flavonoid contents of the strong tolerant cultivar significantly and proportionally increased in the flooding levels (5 cm and 10 cm). There was a total difference in terms of number of phenolic acids found in the strong and weak tolerant varieties. In particular, six phenolic acids (gallic acid, catechol, caffeic acid, syringic acid, vanillin, and ellagic acid) were only identified with high concentration in the strong tolerant cultivar. The findings suggest that the phenolics presented in the strong tolerant varieties probably have a certain function in response and adaptation to anaerobic flooding condition. Further researches on exogenous application of these phenolic acids to increase the flooding tolerant level of rice should be continued at both green house and field treatments.
Neural Network-Based Approach for Analysis of Rigid Pavement Systems Using Deflection Data

This paper focuses on the development of backcalculation models based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) for predicting the layer moduli of the jointed plain concrete pavements, that is, the elastic modulus of the portland cement concrete (PCC) layer and the coefficient of subgrade reaction for the pavement foundation. The ANN-based models were trained to predict the layer moduli by using the falling-weight deflectometer (FWD) deflection basin data and the thickness of the concrete pavement structure. The ISLAB2000 finite element program, extensively tested and validated for more than 20 years, has been employed as an advanced structural model for solving the responses of the rigid pavement systems and generating a knowledge database. ANN-based backcalculation models trained with the results from the ISLAB2000 solutions have been found to be viable alternatives for rapid assessment (capable of analyzing 100,000 FWD deflection profiles in a single second) of the rigid pavement systems. The trained ANN-based models are capable of predicting the concrete pavement parameters with very low (<0.4%) average absolute error values. The ANN model predictions and closed-form solutions were compared through the use of the FWD deflection data, and the results are summarized in the paper. In addition, a sensitivity study was conducted to verify the significance of the layer thicknesses and the effect of bonding between the PCC and the base layer in the backcalculation procedure. The results of this study demonstrated that the ANN-based models are capable of successfully predicting the rigid pavement layer moduli with high accuracy.
Evidence from post-secondary education reform*

All material supplied via JYX is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. More educated, more mobile? : Evidence from post-secondary education reform Haapanen, Mika; Böckerman, Petri
Effect of Calcination Temperature on NO–CO Decomposition by Pd Catalyst Nanoparticles Supported on Alumina Nanofibers

In this work, palladium (Pd) nanoparticles were blended into a solution of a sacrificial polymer and an aluminum sol gel precursor to form alumina fibers containing the palladium particles. The polymer solution was electrospun into template submicron fibers. These fibers were calcined at temperatures between 650 °C and 1150 °C to remove the polymer and oxidize the aluminum. The internal crystalline morphologies of the calcined fibers transformed with change in the calcination temperature. The calcined fibers were formed into fibrous mats and further tested for their catalytic performances. The Pd particles had a size ranging from 5–20 nm and appeared randomly distributed within and near the surfaces of the alumina fibers. The final metal loading of all Pd/Al2O3 samples ranged from 4.7 wt % to 5.1 wt %. As calcination temperature increased the alumina crystal structure changed from amorphous at 650 °C to alpha crystal structure at 1150 °C. With the increase of calcination temperature, the average fiber diameters and specific surface areas decreased. The catalyst supported fiber media had good conversion of NO and CO gases. Higher calcination temperatures led to higher reaction temperatures from 250 to about 450 °C for total conversion, indicating the effective reactivity of the fiber-supported catalysts decreased with increase in calcination temperature. The fibers formed at the 650 °C calcination temperature had the highest reaction activity.
Modern Contraceptive Use among Orthodox Christian and Muslim Women of Reproductive Age Group in Bahir Dar City, North West Ethiopia: Comparative Cross Sectional Study

Background: Mothers are dying as a result of abortion associated with preventable unintended pregnancy. The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of Modern contraceptive use and associated factors among Muslim and orthodox Christian women of reproductive age group in Bahir Dar city. Methods: Comparative Cross-sectional study was carried out on 504 participants selected through Simple random sampling technique from the list of households. Data were collected through a pretested interviewer administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using logistic regression model to determine odds ratio as a measure of strength off association. Result: The prevalence of modern contraceptive use was higher among Orthodox Christian women by 0.28: 95% for the difference (0.19, 0.36). While 63.9% orthodox Christian women were using modern contraceptives only 36.1% of Muslim women were using Modern contraceptive. Age, Religiosity and education level were found to have a statistical association for modern contraceptive use in Both Orthodox Christian and Muslim women (p value < 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among Muslim women was found to significantly lower than that in Orthodox Christian. Recommendation: More efforts should be done to increase the number of Modern Contraceptive users, by focusing on awareness creation on Modern contraceptives with special emphasis on Muslims.
Enrichment of Zinc in Galactic Chemodynamical Evolution Models

The heaviest iron-peak element Zinc (Zn) has been used as an important tracer of cosmic chemical evolution. Spectroscopic observations of the metal-poor stars in Local Group galaxies show an increasing trend of [Zn/Fe] ratios toward lower metallicity. However, the enrichment of Zn in galaxies is not well understood due to poor knowledge of astrophysical sites of Zn, as well as metal mixing in galaxies. Here we show possible explanations for the observed trend by taking into account electron-capture supernovae (ECSNe) as one of the sources of Zn in our chemodynamical simulations of dwarf galaxies. We find that the ejecta from ECSNe contribute to stars with [Zn/Fe] ≳ 0.5. We also find that scatters of [Zn/Fe] in higher metallicities originate from the ejecta of type Ia supernovae. On the other hand, it appears difficult to explain the observed trends if we do not consider ECSNe as a source of Zn. These results come from an inhomogeneous spatial metallicity distribution due to the inefficiency of the metal mixing. We find that the optimal value of the scaling factor for the metal diffusion coefficient is ∼0.01 in the shear-based metal mixing model in smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. These results suggest that ECSNe could be one of the contributors of the enrichment of Zn in galaxies.
Moral Judgement Development in Higher Education: Insights from the Defining Issues Test

This article reviews 172 studies that used the Defining Issues Test to investigate the moral development of undergraduate college students and provides an organisational framework for analysing educational contexts in higher education. These studies addressed collegiate outcomes related to character or civic outcomes, selected aspects of students' collegiate experiences related to moral judgement development and changes in moral reasoning during the college years as they related to changes in other domains of development. Findings suggest that dramatic gains in moral judgement are associated with collegiate participation, even after controlling for age and entering level of moral judgement. Although many studies used gross indicators of collegiate context (e.g. institutional type or academic discipline), studies that examine specific collegiate characteristics and educational experiences are better suited to identifying factors that contribute directly or indirectly to changes in moral judgement during the college years. Implications for student development practice and future research are discussed.