Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE INTERACTION EFFECT OF JOB DESIGN AND PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION ON THE JOB PERFORMANCE OF MALDIVES CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES

: Previous research has shown that people select public sector jobs for meaningful work. In this regard, the meaning of work comes from the way work is conceived, as represented by the model given by Hackman and Oldham (1975), which can have important implications for work-related behaviour. Therefore, this research analyses how job characteristics would influence civil servants' Public Service Motivation and how this leads to the interaction between job characteristics and job performance of those working in the Maldives Civil Service This research used a quantitative design approach and a cross-sectional data collection approach. Data were collected from 370 employees from different public service offices in the Maldives Civil Service. The findings from this research indicate a positive association between job characteristics and job performance. Similarly, job characteristics positively impact public service motivation (PSM), which also affects job performance. In addition, an interaction was observed; detailed findings are given in the research paper. The findings of this research suggest significant implications to those who implement HR, thereby providing insights to improve the job design and human resource management functions of civil servants. In addition, the study presents essential findings on the importance of job characteristics on job performance from the context of the public sector of South Asian countries. It also highlights the need to improve job characteristics to increase the motivation of public sector employees.
Relaxation and Oscillation Model Using Caputo Fractional Differential Equations

The phenomenon of relaxation and oscillation is a common event that is often encountered. Both of these properties can occur in viscoelastic materials even though they do not occur simultaneously. Because the characteristics of viscoelastic materials are difficult to describe using classical-order differential equations, in this study, fractional-order differential equations were used to model each of the relaxation and oscillation phenomena in viscoelastic materials with the help of Laplace transform as a solution method . The solution obtained characterizes the phenomenon of memory effect as well as viscoelastic materials in general. In addition to this phenomenon, several other variables were also found to be the influence of the related material motion dynamics.
Theoretical Analysis and Practical Insights on EAP Estimation via a Unified HARDI Framework

Since Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) cannot describe complex non-Gaussian diffusion process, many techniques, called as single shell High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (sHARDI) methods, reconstruct the Ensemble Average Propagator (EAP) or its feature Orientation Distribution Function (ODF) from diffusion weighted signals only in single shell. Q-Ball Imaging (QBI) and Diffusion Orientation Transform (DOT) are two famous sHARDI methods. However, these sHARDI methods have some intrinsic modeling errors or need some unreal assumptions. Moreover they are hard to deal with signals from different q-shells. Most recently several novel multiple shell HARDI (mHARDI) methods, including Diffusion Propagator Imaging (DPI), Spherical Polar Fourier Imaging (SPFI) and Simple Harmonic Oscillator based Reconstruction and Estimation (SHORE), were proposed to analytically estimate EAP or ODF from multiple shell (or arbitrarily sampled) signals. These three methods all represent diffusion signal with some basis functions in spherical coordinate and use plane wave formula to analytically solve the Fourier transform. To our knowledge, there is no theoretical analysis and practical comparison among these sHARDI and mHARDI methods. In this paper, we propose a unified computational framework, named Analytical Fourier Transform in Spherical Coordinate (AFT-SC), to perform such theoretical analysis and practical comparison among all these five state-of-the-art diffusion MRI methods. We compare these five methods in both theoretical and experimental aspects. With respect to the theoretical aspect, some criteria are proposed for evaluation and some differences together with some similarities among the methods are highlighted. Regarding the experimental aspect, all the methods are compared in synthetic, phantom and real data. The shortcomings and advantages of each method are highlighted from which SPFI appears to be among the best because it uses an orthonormal basis that completely separates the spherical and radial information.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCING SUGAR CONSUMPTION PATTERN IN BAUCHI STATE NIGERIA

The study examined household sugar consumption pattern in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Cross – sectional data were collected from 412 households using multistage sampling technique. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Linear regression model and budget share index. The socio-economic factors influencing sugar consumption in northern zone of Bauchi State were; age, household size (P<0.01), income (P<0.05), educational level and primary occupation (P<0.1), with R 2 value of 0.685. The significant variables that influenced household sugar consumption in central zone were monthly income (P<0.05), cost of sugar and household size (P<0.01) and average monthly total food expenditure (P<0.05); with R 2 value of 0.497. In the western zone sugar consumption was influenced by average monthly income and household size (P<0.01), cost of sugar (P<0.05), and primary occupation (P<0.1) with an R 2 value of 0.375 and the F-value of all the three zones were significant (P<0.01). The central zone had the highest sugar budget share of 8.70%, followed by western zone (6.59%), while Northern zone had 5.20%. The result showed that, in northern zone the respondents spent 60.91% of their household budget on food, while in central and western zones it was 59.27% and 55.06% respectively. Most of the respondents, 89.4% and 84.2% in central and western zones, respectively reported price as a major constraint to sugar consumption; likewise, 79.7% in northern zone. Income is the second constraint to sugar consumption in all the three zones with 73.4%, 84.6% and 77.6% in northern, central and western zones, respectively. Household size ranked third, the northern zone had 51.0%, central zone 47.1% and western zone 32.7%. A small percentage of the respondents reported health as a constraint to sugar consumption, northern zone 23.1%, central 25.0% and western zone 24.2%. The research concluded that socioeconomic factors have an influence on sugar consumption of the household. The study therefore, recommended Policies and programs toward sugar sector in Nigeria should be improve and implemented toward self-sufficiency in sugar production. Thus, filling the demand and supply gap of the product in the country.
Gross Moist Stability Analysis: Assessment of Satellite-Based Products in the GMS Plane

AbstractNew diagnostic applications of the gross moist stability (GMS) are proposed with demonstrations using satellite-based data. The plane of the divergence of column moist static energy (MSE) against the divergence of column dry static energy (DSE), referred to as the GMS plane here, is utilized. In this plane, one can determine whether the convection is in the amplifying phase or in the decaying phase; if a data point lies below (above) a critical line in the GMS plane, the convection is in the amplifying (decaying) phase. The GMS plane behaves as a phase plane in which each convective life cycle can be viewed as an orbiting fluctuation around the critical line, and this property is robust even on the MJO time scale. This phase-plane behavior indicates that values of the GMS can qualitatively predict the subsequent convective evolution. This study demonstrates that GMS analyses possess two different aspects: time-dependent and quasi-time-independent aspects. Transitions of time-dependent GMS can be v.
Self-harm violence in adults in Espírito Santo between 2011-2018: Analyses in relation to reported cases

Objective: identify the proportion of self-inflicted violence in adults in relation to reported cases in Espírito Santo in the period 2011-2018 and its association with individual and event characteristics. Methods: cross-sectional study, conducted with data from reported cases of violence from the Brazilian Information System for Notifiable Diseases (SINAN) of Espírito Santo, between 2011 and 2018. The population of interest was individuals in the aged between 20 and 59 years. The outcome variable was self-inflicted violence. The individual and event characteristics were the independent variables. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed and presented in relation to the crude and adjusted prevalence ratio. Results: the proportion of self-inflicted violence reported was 29.6% in the period studied. Considering the number of reported cases of violence, associations of self-inflicted violence were verified with the female gender, age range of 20 to 29 years, higher education, disability or mental disorder, residence as place of occurrence, suspected alcohol use, and no history of previous event occurrence. Conclusion: the variables related to the individual and the environment of the occurrence are associated with self-inflicted violence, indicating a specific profile for these cases of violence in relation to the set of notifications.
Corporate social responsibility expenditures and its impact on financial performance variables of listed commercial banks in Nepal

Financial institutions, such as banks, hold significant position in the economy and are subject to increasing expectations from shareholders. As a result, it is crucial to understand how CSR influences the financial aspects of banking operations. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often viewed as a self-regulatory approach that is incorporated into the business models of companies and organizations. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the impact of CSR on the financial performance of various commercial banks in Nepal. The study utilizes data from all commercial banks in Nepal over a three-year timeframe, spanning from 2020 to 2022. For many businesses, CSR serves as a forward-thinking business strategy and marketing tool that aids in achieving a competitive edge. Research results have demonstrated a notable and substantial influence of CSR on ROA and EPS. However, we found no relationship of CSR expenses on commercial banks’ ROE. Most of the research on corporate social responsibility focuses on established companies and countries, while developing nations like Nepal receive minimal attention. The findings of this study significantly add to the existing knowledge and provide crucial insights for policy makers and governance of financial sector.
Separable variance-covariance structure: estimation, testing and environmental application

Multi-dimensional, univariate or multivariate datasets arise when one or several random variables are observed on a spatio-temporal domain. A parsimonious model is often used to facilitate the estimation of variance-covariance parameters. This is the case in particular with the matrix and tensor normal distribution models, which imply a simply and doubly separable variance-covariance structure, respectively. A separable variance-covariance matrix is the Kronecker product of two, three, or more component variance-covariance matrices, each representing variability and dependencies in one dimension (e.g. 1-D space and time; multivariate, 1-D space, and time; 3-D space and time). In this thesis, the focus is on parameter estimation by maximum likelihood (ML), the likelihood ratio test (LRT) of separability, and the application to an original dataset. First, the empirical bias of the ML estimator of a simply separable variance-covariance matrix is shown to follow a non-monotonic 'peak-trough' pattern with increasing sample size, a result apparently not conform to theory. This atypical pattern is explained by decomposing the ergodic (empirical) bias into an estimation bias and a fluctuation bias minus a non-orthogonality factor. Then, an unbiased modified LRT for simple separability of a variance-covariance structure, without or with modeling of the mean, is proposed. A penalty factor improves the chi-square distribution of the LRT statistic in finite samples, which represents a simpler and more general procedure to obtain a valid LRT of separability than existing methods. Thereafter, the tensor normal distribution model is presented in detail, with a decomposition of the bias of the ML estimator of a doubly separable variance-covariance matrix and an unbiased modified LRT for double separability. Finally, an original multi-dimensional dataset of wood density in trunk sections of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), as measured from computed tomography scanning data, is used to test and accept the hypothesis of double separability on the variance-covariance structure and to assess direction, height and year effects on mean wood density using modified analysis-of-variance F-tests based on Box's 'epsilon'. %%%%Les jeux de donnees multidimensionnels, univaries ou multivaries, se presentent lorsqu'une ou plusieurs variables aleatoires sont observees sur un domaine spatio-temporel. Un modele parcimonieux est souvent utilise pour faciliter l'estimation de la matrice de variance-covariance. C'est le cas en particulier des modeles de la matrice et du tenseur aleatoires normaux, qui impliquent une structure de variance-covariance simplement ou doublement separable, respectivement. Une matrice de variance-covariance separable est le produit de Kronecker de deux, trois, ou plus de matrices de variance-covariance, chacune representant la variabilite et les dependances dans une dimension (p. ex. espace 1-D et temps; plusieurs variables, espace 1-D, et temps; espace 3-D et temps). Dans cette these, le focus est sur l'estimation des…
Age-associated alterations in thalamocortical structural connectivity in psychosis-spectrum youths

Objective: Psychotic symptoms typically emerge in adolescence when connections between the thalamus and cortex are still maturing. The extent to which thalamocortical connectivity differences observed in psychosis occur as a function of age-associated alterations is not fully understood. Methods: We analyzed diffusion-weighted imaging data from 1254 participants 8-23 years old (typically developing youth: N=626, psychosis-spectrum youth: N=329, other psychopathology: N=299) from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Using deterministic fiber tractography, we modeled eight tracts between the thalamus and cortical regions of interest. We extracted diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) and conventional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures. We used generalized additive models to determine group and age-associated differences in thalamocortical connectivity. Results: Compared to typically developing youth and youth with other psychopathologies, psychosis-spectrum youth exhibited thalamocortical reductions in DSI global fractional anisotropy (p-values range=3.0x10-6-0.05) and DTI fractional anisotropy (p-values range=4.2x10-4-0.03). Compared to typically developing youth, psychosis-spectrum youth exhibited shallower thalamus-prefrontal age-associated increases in DSI global fractional anisotropy and DTI fractional anisotropy during middle childhood, and steeper thalamus-prefrontal age-associated increases in those measures during adolescence. Both typically developing youth and youth with other psychopathologies exhibited decreases in mean and radial diffusivity in thalamus-frontal tracts during adolescence; psychosis-spectrum youth failed to show these age-related decreases. Conclusion: Our findings suggest group differences and altered age-related patterns of thalamocortical white matter connectivity in psychosis-spectrum youth. Consistent alterations present as early as middle childhood and altered age-associated patterns during adolescence and young adulthood may contribute to the disruptions in thalamocortical connectivity observed in adults with psychosis.
Bayesian genome-wide TWAS with reference transcriptomic data of brain and blood tissues identified 93 risk genes for Alzheimer's disease dementia

Background: Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) is an influential tool for identifying novel genes associated with complex diseases, where their genetic effects may be mediated through transcriptome. TWAS utilizes reference genetic and transcriptomic data to estimate genetic effect sizes on expression quantitative traits of target genes (i.e., effect sizes of a broad sense of expression quantitative trait loci, eQTL). These estimated effect sizes are then employed as variant weights in burden gene-based association test statistics, facilitating the mapping of risk genes for complex diseases with genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. However, most existing TWAS of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia have primarily focused on cis-eQTL, disregarding potential trans-eQTL. To overcome this limitation, we applied the Bayesian Genome-wide TWAS (BGW-TWAS) method which incorporated both cis- and trans- eQTL of brain and blood tissues to enhance mapping risk genes for AD dementia. Methods: We first applied BGW-TWAS to the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) V8 dataset to estimate cis- and trans- eQTL effect sizes of the prefrontal cortex, cortex, and whole blood tissues. Subsequently, estimated eQTL effect sizes were integrated with the summary data of the most recent GWAS of AD dementia to obtain BGW-TWAS (i.e., gene-based association test) p-values of AD dementia per tissue type. Finally, we used the aggregated Cauchy association test to combine TWAS p-values across three tissues to obtain omnibus TWAS p-values per gene. Results: We identified 37 genes in prefrontal cortex, 55 in cortex, and 51 in whole blood that were significantly associated with AD dementia. By combining BGW-TWAS p-values across these three tissues, we obtained 93 significant risk genes including 29 genes primarily due to trans-eQTL and 50 novel genes. Utilizing protein-protein interaction network and phenotype enrichment analyses with these 93 significant risk genes, we detected 5 functional clusters comprised of both known and novel AD risk genes and 7 enriched phenotypes. Conclusion: We applied BGW-TWAS and aggregated Cauchy test methods to integrate both cis- and trans- eQTL data of brain and blood tissues with GWAS summary data to identify risk genes of AD dementia. The risk genes we identified provide novel insights into the underlying biological pathways implicated in AD dementia.
"Putting the power back into community": A mixed methods evaluation a chronic hepatitis B training course for the Aboriginal health workforce of Australia's Northern Territory

Background Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is endemic in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia's Northern Territory. Progression to liver disease can be prevented if holistic care is provided. Low health literacy amongst health professionals is a known barrier to caring for people living with CHB. We co-designed and delivered a culturally safe "Managing hepatitis B" training course for the Aboriginal health workforce. Here we present an evaluation of the course. Objectives 1. To improve course participants CHB-related knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice. 2. To evaluate the "Managing hepatitis B" training course. 3. To enable participants to have the skills and confidence to be part of the care team. Methods We used participatory action research and culturally safe principles. We used purpose-built quantitative and qualitative evaluation tools to evaluate our "Managing hepatitis B" training course. We integrated the two forms of data, deductively analysing codes, grouped into categories, and assessed pedagogical outcomes against Kirkpatrick's training evaluation framework. Results Eight courses were delivered between 2019 and 2023, with 130 participants from 32 communities. Pre- and post-course questionnaires demonstrated statistically significant improvements in all domains, p<0.001 on 93 matched pairs. Thematic network analysis demonstrated high levels of course acceptability and significant knowledge acquisition. Other themes identified include cultural safety, shame, previous misinformation, and misconceptions about transmission. Observations demonstrate improvements in post-course engagement, a deep understanding of CHB as well as increased participation in clinical care teams. Conclusions The "Managing hepatitis B" training course led to a sustained improvement in the knowledge and attitudes of the Aboriginal health workforce, resulting in improved care and treatment uptake for people living with CHB. Important non-clinical outcomes included strengthening teaching, and leadership skills, and empowerment.
Emergency remote teaching in process simulation using DWSIM: a case study from DIQ-UMAG, Chilean Patagonia

 Abstract — Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Chilean universities were forced to transition from face-to-face classes to online instruction. In response, the Department of Chemical Engineering (DIQ) at the University of Magallanes sought alternative strategies for remote teaching. This article reports on their experience of delivering technical process simulation skills to their final-year undergraduate chemical engineering students. Due to difficulties connecting with the commercial software Aspen HYSYS, which was housed at the university, the department turned to the open-source software, DWSIM, as an alternative. The material content was adapted, and video tutorials were created to meet learning objectives. The software was taught in a new module within the Project Engineering course to develop the skills needed for students to design and simulate a chemical plant. Positive feedback and constructive criticism were received from the students through anonymous surveys and discussion forums. In response, DIQ launched its YouTube channel, DIQ_DWSIM, which has had a positive impact on Spanish-speaking individuals seeking to learn DWSIM. Additionally, two universities have used the channel as support material for their process simulation courses. A second survey of the YouTube audience has further solidified the value of this open online educational resource for higher education learning.