Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radar-based tracking of pollutants/larvae in the Coral Sea

A Lagrangian approach is used in physical oceanography to follow a parcel of water as it moves along its flow path and changes shape. Buoyant particles can be tracked to understand and predict the movement of pollution, flotsam and biota on the sea surface. We used data from a high-frequency radar system to compute radar-based Lagrangian trajectories in the Capricorn/Bunker region of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR, Australia). This paper describes case studies for the tracking of flotsam from the Shen Neng I grounding on Douglas Shoal in 2010, and for the destination of coastal waters adjacent Gladstone at the time of a fish disease event in September 2011. Further, the movement of a passive buoyant particle can also be inferred from Lagrangian tracking, which is a valuable technique to study connectivity between reefs. Radar-based trajectories show that wind and tidal conditions greatly affect the advection and spread of particles near the surface in shallow areas of southern GBR, but larger scale processes may be dominant during particular occasions. Therefore, the timing of larval release is crucial to determine the degree of larval retention or advection. We have made a scenario calculation for intermittent release of particles from Heron Island (GBR) for the 2009 spawning to illustrate the capability of the methodology for connectivity research; we also discuss how to couple this with a behavioral model to predict migration paths of larvae.
Heterogeneous effects of socio-economic and cultural factors on fertility differentials in Burundi and Morocco during their fertility transition periods: a retrospective, cross-sectional and comparative study

Introduction few studies have examined the factors influencing fertility differentials and the variation in their effects in countries with different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and different fertility transition paces. To address this gap, our study sought to first identify the factors that influenced fertility differentials in Morocco and Burundi during their fertility transition periods, and then to compare the effects of these factors between the two countries. Methods using data from the 2003-4 Morocco and 2010 Burundi Demographic and Health Surveys, bivariable and multivariable Poisson regression analyses offset by the natural logarithm of the women´s age were performed to identify the socioeconomic and cultural factors that influenced fertility differentials in Morocco and Burundi during their fertility transition. Results our main findings showed that the total number of children ever born ranged from 0 to 17 with a mean of 2.71 ± 2.89 in Burundi and from 0 to 16 with a mean of 1.88 ± 2.80 in Morocco. In Burundi, both socioeconomic and cultural factors like rural residence adjusted incident rate ratio (AIRR) = 1.159, 95% CI: 1.103 - 1.217, P=0.020), women´s illiteracy (AIRR=1.465, 95% CI: 1.241- 1.729, P <0.001) and agricultural profession (AIRR=1. 332, 95% CI: 1.263 - 1.401, P = 0.004), household poverty (AIRR= 1.381, 95% CI: 1.223 - 1.431, p<0.001), infant mortality (AIRR= 1.602, 95% CI: 1.562 - 1.643, p<0.001), early marriage (AIRR= 1.313, 95% CI: 1.264 - 1.364, p<0.001), lack of knowledge of any contraceptives (AIRR= 1.263, 95% CI: 1.125 - 1.310, p = 0.003) and failure to use modern contraceptives (AIRR= 1.520, 95% CI: 1.487 - 1.611, p<0.001) were associated with high number of children ever born. However, in Morocco socioeconomic factors like residence place, women´s agricultural profession and household poverty were not significant. In this country, women´s illiteracy (AIRR=1.428, 95% CI: 1.315 - 1.551, P <0.001), lack of access to mass media (AIRR= 1.241, 95% CI: 1.108 - 1.375, p = 0.006), infant mortality (AIRR=1.222, 95%CI: 1.184 - 1.361, p<0.001), early marriage (AIRR1.481, 95% CI: 1.435 - 1.529, p<0.001), lack of knowledge of any contraceptives (AIRR1.508, 95% CI: 1.409 - 1.613, p<0.001) and failure to use modern contraceptives (AIRR1.745, 95% CI: 1.627 - 1.863, p<0.001) were associated with high fertility but with different effects than in Burundi. Conclusion the evidence from this study suggests that interventions to accelerate the fertility transition processes in Burundi and many other countries with slow fertility transitions should be designed and implemented according to each country's local context.
Approximate Entropy and Velocity of Center of Pressure to Determine Postural Stability: A Pilot Study

The body’s postural control system is responsible for responding to perturbations of balance and keeping the body upright. During quiet standing, the center of pressure oscillates about the center of mass, counteracting imbalances. These oscillations can be analyzed to determine the degree of stability, which could be helpful in quantifying the effects of brain injuries. In this research, the center of pressure was recorded for stances with feet together and feet tandem, with eyes opened and eyes closed, in neurotypical participants. These signals were analyzed using indices of approximate entropy and velocity to determine how sensitive the measures were in tracking changes to stability levels. One-way ANOVA test results showed increased approximate entropy in anterior/posterior and medial/lateral directions (p = 1.21 × 10−11, 3 × 10−14) and increased velocity in both directions (p = 2.87 × 10−6, 4.87 × 10−7) during conditions with decreased stability. Dunnett’s post hoc testing indicated that approximate entropy was significantly greater in all the less stable feet tandem trials in comparison to the most stable eyes open, feet together condition with p < 0.001 in nearly every participant and that velocity was significantly greater in the least stable eyes closed, feet tandem trials in comparison to the most stable condition with p < 0.01 in nearly every participant.
Impact of Narrative versus Didactic Information on Pregnant Women’s Knowledge, Attitude and Perception Regarding Climate Change

Background: Climate change is a worldwide danger that affect pregnant women and their growing fetus seriously. Teaching the pregnant women about the hazards of these changes may enhance maternal and neonatal health outcomes. Aim of the study to compare between the effect of narrative versus didactic information on pregnant women’s knowledge, attitude, and perception regarding climate change. Subjects and Methods: Quazi-Experimental design two groups with (pre-post intervention test) was utilize in the current study. Setting; the study was conducted at the outpatient antenatal clinics in El-Minia university hospital for maternity and children . A purposive sample of One hundred pregnant women was included in this study . Data was collected through a structured interviewing questionnaire that had a number of questions regarding the expectations of women’s knowledge, attitude and perception, the women also received a manual (brochure), its content was developed based on the pregnant women identified needs post the pre assessment . Results: The current study clarified that, the narrative group got a good level of knowledge, positive attitude, and a higher level of perception after implementing the intervention compared to the deductive group, with statistically significant differences as P value <0.001, <0.001 & 0.004, respectively. Conclusion: Implementation of narrative-based educational information is an effective way to inform the pregnant women about the effect of climate change on the pregnancy-related concerns . Recommendations: educational training, and communication activities about climate change and its effect on pregnancy should be conducted to the pregnant women in order to increase their level of information which well be reflected on their level of knowledge, perception, and healthy attitude to lessen the detrimental health effects induced by climate change on pregnancy.
Quality of the Opportunities for Preschoolers’ Physical Activity in Portuguese Kindergartens

Kindergarten’s physical and social environment influences preschoolers’ physical activity (PA) and impacts their development. This study aimed first to describe the quality of the opportunities provided by the physical attributes and social guidelines to promote PA and, second, to investigate the relationship between design attributes and daily practices to support PA in sixteen Portuguese kindergartens (15 public). The Children’s Physical Environment Rating Scale was used to rate the quality of the design attributes. Sixteen directors and teachers filled out surveys to quantify the equipment available and assess the quality of the written policies and daily practices to promote PA. Correlations between design attributes and daily practices to support PA were analyzed. The results emphasize the need for improvements in indoor settings that facilitate a wide range of gross motor activities for children. Similarly, outdoor environments should be designed to enable play opportunities regardless of weather conditions, encouraging children to engage in diverse and challenging physical activities. Providing more times per year for teachers’ PA training is also necessary. The design attributes and daily practices to support children’s PA were related. In kindergartens with a room only for PA, children spent less time sitting and more time in teacher-led PA. In kindergartens with large and challenging outdoor areas, children engaged in more intense PA. However, having a roofed protection area outdoors was not sufficient to decrease indoor sitting time. These findings highlight the need for ongoing review and assessment of the physical and social environment in kindergartens to ensure preschoolers have the best opportunities for PA.
Deletion of Gtf2i via Systemic Administration of AAV-PHP.eB Virus Increases Social Behavior in a Mouse Model of a Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by distinctive cognitive and personality profiles which also impacts various physiological systems. The syndrome arises from the deletion of about 25 genes located on chromosome 7q11.23, including Gtf2i. Prior research indicated a strong association between pre-natal Gtf2i deletion, and the hyper-social phenotypes observed in WS, as well as myelination deficits. As most studies addressed pre-natal Gtf2i deletion in mouse models, post-natal neuronal roles of Gtf2i were unknown. To investigate the impact of post-natal deletion of neuronal Gtf2i on hyper-sociability, we intravenously injected an AAV-PHP.eB virus expressing Cre-recombinase under the control of αCaMKII, a promoter in a mouse model with floxed Gtf2i. This targeted deletion was performed in young mice, allowing for precise and efficient brain-wide infection leading to the exclusive removal of Gtf2i from excitatory neurons. As a result of such gene deletion, the mice displayed hyper-sociability, increased anxiety, impaired cognition, and hyper-mobility, relative to controls. These findings highlight the potential of systemic viral manipulation as a gene-editing technique to modulate behavior-regulating genes during the post-natal stage, thus presenting novel therapeutic approaches for addressing neurodevelopmental dysfunction.
The role of magma recycling in controlling the behaviour of Hawaiian-style lava fountains.

Explosive eruptions of mafic magmas produce lava fountains whose heights are a function of the exsolved volatile content of the magma, its erupted mass flux, and the geometry of the vent (which may be an elongate fissure or a localized, near-circular conduit). The geometry of the initial vent (and the eruptive behaviour) can be distinctly modified by lava drainback and accumulating ejecta. Hot pyroclasts landing near the vent may coalesce to form rootless flows, some of which may drain back into the vent to be recycled into the eruption products. Rootless flows may be at least partially confined by pre-existing topographic features, or by spatter or cinder ramparts being built up by the eruption itself, so that they accumulate into a lava pond over and around the vent. The erupting jet of magmatic gas and pyroclasts must force its way through such a pond and will entrain some of the pond lava as it does so. The energy expended in entraining and accelerating previously erupted materials will reduce the eruption velocity and the lava fountain height by an amount which can be calculated as a function of the eruption conditions and the lava pond depth (or lava drainback rate). The results of such calculations are presented, and are used to assess the influence of this process on attempts to infer magma volatile contents from field observations of lava fountain heights.
Effect of empowerment program on the quality of life of the elderly cancer patients’ caregiver: A quasi-experimental study

Cancer patients and their family face challenges in their quality of life (QoL). Families have an important role in health care programs for their patients. This study evaluates the family-centered trainings on the QoL of the family caregivers of elderly cancer patients. This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 30 caregivers of elderly cancer patients who randomly divided into control and experiment groups (n=15 per group). Data was collected using a demographic and the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) scale. The intervention was carried out as an individual education in two one-hour sessions. Six weeks after the intervention, the quality of life (QoL) was remeasured in the groups. ANCOVA and Bonferroni tests showed a statistically significant difference in the mean score of the QOL between the experiment (60.53±15.99) and the control groups (68.07±18.49) in the post-test (P <0.001). The family-centered intervention is beneficial in enhancing the QoL of caregivers of the elderly cancer patients. Consequently, providing educational programs can be an effective method and essential for improving the clients’ QoL.
The moderating effect of halal certification on the purchase intention of halal bakery products in Petaling district, Selangor, Malaysia

The halal issue regarding these bakery products has raised concern among consumers especially related to the origin of the ingredients used in the bakery production. Hence, when doubt about the ingredients arises, the buying decision of the consumers are affected. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the moderating effect of Halal certification on the relationship between the attributes of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), including attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control and the purchase intention of consumers towards Halal bakery products in five areas of the Petaling District, Selangor from June to August 2018. This study is a quantitative, nonexperimental (correlational) survey employing the purposive sampling method. A whopping 500 questionnaires were collected back after a self-completion process by respondents and there was a total of 476 samples with valid responses after excluding twenty-four questionnaires with incomplete information. Data processing was then conducted by administering the IBM SPSS and PLS-SEM. The findings revealed that all TPB attributes, except attitudes, produced a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the purchase intention of consumers and actual purchase of Halal bakery products. Halal certification was also found to produce a negative effect on the relationship between the TPB attributes and purchase intention, and the results suggested that Halal certification could moderate the effects of TPB attributes and purchase intention on the actual behaviour of purchasing Halal bakery products by consumers (p < 0.01). Therefore, it is posited that the higher the awareness of Halal bakery products, the greater the relationship between consumers’ purchase intention and the actual behaviour of purchase. The results of this study also demonstrated the importance of the Halal certification implementation in increasing the levels of purchase intention and the actual behaviour of buying Halal bakery products amongst consumers.
Ecosystem emergence : an investigation of the emergence processes of six digital service ecosystems

This thesis investigates processes of ecosystem emergence. Ecosystem research has thus far focused on understanding the structure and dynamics of already existing ecosystems. However much less attention has been devoted to the emergence of ecosystems. I first theoretically develop an institutional approach to ecosystems, arguing that the ecosystem is an organisational field which has value co-creation as its recognised area of institutional life. Synthesising the theories of dominant design, social movements, and institutional entrepreneurship, I identify four activities that drive the processes of ecosystem emergence: resource, technological, institutional and contextual activities. Empirically, I compare the emergence sequences of six digital service ecosystems – Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google, Salesforce and Wikipedia – using a narrative explanation methodology, applying event colligation, optimal matching, direct inspection, frequency analysis and an innovative statistical bootstrapping technique. I find that emergence sequences of each case are significantly dissimilar and that there are three phases of emergence – Initiation, Momentum, Control. The first of these phases is similar across cases, but subsequent phases exhibit increasing dissimilarity as the ecosystem evolves and takes on idiosyncratic characteristics. To explain these findings, I develop an ecosystem perspective that explicitly integrates value co-creation processes as an important regulator of the evolution of ecosystems. I suggest that idiosyncratic logics of value co-creation result in differing value creation processes. I show that the three distinct phases of ecosystem emergence form a coherent, distinctive whole when considered from the perspective of value co-creation. Emphasising that value appropriated must first be co-created, I propose the ‘ecosystem model’ as an analytic tool to better conceptualise value co-creation and appropriation in ecosystems. I discuss the implications of these contributions for ecosystem research, institutional theory, and strategic management practice.
Effect of cropping frequency, wheat classes, and flexible rotations on yield, production, and nitrogen economy in a Brown Chernozem

Producers in the semiarid Canadian prairies frequently summerfallow (F) to conserve water, control weeds, and to maximize soil N reserves; however, this practice often results in soil degradation. A crop rotation experiment was initiated in 1987 on a medium textured, Orthic Brown Chernozem at Swift Current, to determine the most ideal cropping frequency for this region and whether a fixed rotation such as fallow-wheatwheat (F-W-W) would be more effective than flexible rotations in which fallowing is decided each spring based on criteria such as available soil water (if water), or the need to control perennial weed infestations (if weeds). The study also compares the production of traditional Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat class with the newer higheryielding (Hy), Canada Prairie Spring (CPS) wheat class. The rotations included F-W-W, F-W-W-W, F-Hy-Hy, Continuous wheat (Cont W), Cont W (if weeds), and Cont W (if water). Over the study period (1987-1998), weather conditions were generally favourable and yields were above average for this region. Canada Prairie Spring wheat outyielded CWRS by 35% when grown on fallow and by 15% when grown on stubble; however, straw yields of the two wheat classes were similar on fallow and CPS was 7% less than CWRS on stubble. Harvest index (HI) averaged 45% for CPS and 40% for CWRS wheat. Grain N concentration averaged 25.5 g kg for CWRS and 22.5 g kg for CPS; straw N concentration averaged 4.0 g kg for CWRS and 4.6 g kg for CPS. Nitrogen yield for grain from CPS was 13% greater than from CWRS when grown on fallow, but class had no effect when wheat was grown on stubble. Nitrogen yield of straw was generally not affected by wheat class. Nitrogen yield of the above-ground plant parts generally mimicked grain N yield responses. Nitrogen harvest index (NHI) averaged 80% for both wheat classes, whether grown on fallow or stubble. On a rotation basis, F-W-W-W and Cont W (if weeds) produced 9% more grain than F-W-W, while Cont W (if water) produced 24% more grain, and Cont W and F-Hy-Hy produced 29% more grain than FW-W. Nitrogen production in the grain, straw and above-ground plant material was lowest in F-W-W, highest in Cont W, and intermediate for other rotations.
Water quality, metal bioaccumulation and parasite communities of Oreochromis mossambicus in Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga, South Africa

7 Chapter 1 A history of Loskop Dam and important environmental impacts affecting fish and crocodile populations. 9 Chapter 2 Water Chemistry and Limnology of Loskop Dam: Possible Links to Fish Mortalities. 20 Chapter 3 Trace metal concentrations in the tissues of Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) in Loskop Dam. 43 Chapter 4 Metazoan parasite communities of Oreochromis mossambicus as indicators of anthropogenic impacts in Loskop Dam. 61 Chapter 5 Concluding remarks, further research and management recommendations for Loskop Dam 77
Botulinum Toxin Treatment of Adult Muscle Stem Cells from Children with Cerebral Palsy and hiPSC-Derived Neuromuscular Junctions

Botulinum neurotoxin type-A (BoNT) injections are commonly used as spasticity treatment in cerebral palsy (CP). Despite improved clinical outcomes, concerns regarding harmful effects on muscle morphology have been raised, and the BoNT effect on muscle stem cells remains not well defined. This study aims at clarifying the impact of BoNT on growing muscles (1) by analyzing the in vitro effect of BoNT on satellite cell (SC)-derived myoblasts and fibroblasts obtained from medial gastrocnemius microbiopsies collected in young BoNT-naïve children (t0) compared to age ranged typically developing children; (2) by following the effect of in vivo BoNT administration on these cells obtained from the same children with CP at 3 (t1) and 6 (t2) months post BoNT; (3) by determining the direct effect of a single and repeated in vitro BoNT treatment on neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) differentiated from hiPSCs. In vitro BoNT did not affect myogenic differentiation or collagen production. The fusion index significantly decreased in CP at t2 compared to t0. In NMJ cocultures, BoNT treatment caused axonal swelling and fragmentation. Repeated treatments impaired the autophagic–lysosomal system. Further studies are warranted to understand the long-term and collateral effects of BoNT in the muscles of children with CP.
Diets of sheep grazing forage kochia and winterfat mixed grass pastures in late fall.

The influence of high stocking rates on animal diet choices is well known, but less is known about the com parative nutritional value of selected diets from mixed shrub/grass pastures. This study considered botanical composition and nutritional value of sheep diets on two mixed shrub/grass pastures compared to diets from a straight grass pasture. Shrubs studied include forage kochia (Kochia prostrata) and winterfat (Ceratoides lanata) that were interplanted in crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum) pastures.