Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Salt Shock Responses of Microcystis Revealed through Physiological, Transcript, and Metabolomic Analyses

The transfer of Microcystis aeruginosa from freshwater to estuaries has been described worldwide and salinity is reported as the main factor controlling the expansion of M. aeruginosa to coastal environments. Analyzing the expression levels of targeted genes and employing both targeted and non-targeted metabolomic approaches, this study investigated the effect of a sudden salt increase on the physiological and metabolic responses of two toxic M. aeruginosa strains separately isolated from fresh and brackish waters, respectively, PCC 7820 and 7806. Supported by differences in gene expressions and metabolic profiles, salt tolerance was found to be strain specific. An increase in salinity decreased the growth of M. aeruginosa with a lesser impact on the brackish strain. The production of intracellular microcystin variants in response to salt stress correlated well to the growth rate for both strains. Furthermore, the release of microcystins into the surrounding medium only occurred at the highest salinity treatment when cell lysis occurred. This study suggests that the physiological responses of M. aeruginosa involve the accumulation of common metabolites but that the intraspecific salt tolerance is based on the accumulation of specific metabolites. While one of these was determined to be sucrose, many others remain to be identified. Taken together, these results provide evidence that M. aeruginosa is relatively salt tolerant in the mesohaline zone and microcystin (MC) release only occurs when the capacity of the cells to deal with salt increase is exceeded.
The effects of the Parent Empowerment Programme (PEP) with parents of young Māori children

x Glossary of Māori Terms . 1 Chapter One . 3 Introduction . 3 Part I . 4 Cultural Lens . 4 Ko Wai Au? Who am I? 4 My Research Philosophy . 6 Research for Māori, by Māori. 6 Māori Social and Historical Background . 10 Colonisation and effects on Māori mental health. 11 Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 12 Cultural processes. 13 Summary . 14 Part II . 16 Challenging Behaviour and Intervention . 16
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Unlike most other conventional petroleum products that are derived from crude oil, gas‐to‐liquids (GTLs) are petroleum products that are synthesized from natural gas (methane). This process results in GTL products having no sulfur and low aromatic content, so they should have less impact on human health and the environment compared with crude oil–derived products. The GTLs have been registered for use as nonaqueous base fluids (NABFs) in drilling muds, which aid in the process of drilling wells for oil and gas extraction; it is through these uses and others that they enter terrestrial environments. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether GTLs were less toxic to terrestrial soil biota than conventional NABFs used for land‐based drilling, such as diesel and low‐toxicity mineral oil (LTMO). A second objective was to understand the fate and impact of these fluids under more realistic soil and aging conditions of a common west Texas (USA) oil‐producing region (i.e., sandy loam soil with low organic matter and a hot arid climate). Acute terrestrial toxicity studies were conducted on the soft‐bodied terrestrial invertebrate earthworm (Eisenia fetida) along with 3 plant species—alfalfa (Medicago stavia), thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), and fourwing saltbrush (Atriplex canescens). We also assessed changes in microbial community structure of the soils following additions of NABF. Overall, the GTL NABFs had lower toxicity compared with conventional NABFs like diesel and LTMO, as measured by invertebrate toxicity, plant seed germination, and impact on the microbial community. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:721–730. © 2020 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of SETAC.
A statistical analysis of the correlations among various types of clinical indexes for patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the commonest chronic infections, especially in Asia and Africa, which put a heavy burden worldwide. With the advanced knowledge of HBV, early detection, primary care, and hepatology have made huge progression than before. However, the relationship between gender, age, and different key parameters in HBV patients remains to be determined. In this study, we measured various physiological and biochemical indexes in a large cohort of HBV patients as well as healthy control. We investigated the strength of correlations among those indexes and reported instantaneous imaging results. Moreover, we examined the effects of various grouping modes such as by gender or age on liver stiffness measurement (LSM) and controlled attenuation parameters (CAPs). We compared their diagnostic values for hepatic fibrosis in HBV patients. The results showed that specimens from a healthy control were obviously clustering tightly together, while the specimens from the HBV patients were clustering into several subgroups. Direct bilirubin (DB), total bilirubin (TB), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) occurred together with the diagnosis of HBV. Furthermore, groups categorized by Gender had significant effects on fibrotouch measurement not only in HBV patients but also in healthy control. Our research was to evaluate the actual effects of various parameters on Fibrotouch and make improvement of the critical value of those medical indexes.
Deep Venous Thrombosis in HIV Infected Patients: Case Report and Review

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known to be associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE). Africa is the continent most affected by HIV. However, few studies on VTE affecting HIV subjects have been carried in this area. Here, we report the case of a 38-year-old HIV positive woman,admitted for non-febrile enteritis. She was non-compliant to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with severe immudépression and high viral replication. Left lower limb deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was diagnosed by Doppler-ultrasound. A multifocal tuberculosis was also diagnosed(confirmed on lymph node, lungs, and probably on spleen and peritoneum). Patient was treated by classical anti-tuberculosis treatment and anticoagulant.This case confirm the increased risk for VTE in in HIV subjects, especially with opportunistic infections.
Switched systems as models for dynamic clinical trials

The goal of the paper is to make a case for the use of switched systems as a model for the simulation of dynamic clinical trials. Dynamic clinical trials are characterized by the use of diﬀerent treatments based on the response of a patient to the current treatment. We show that switched systems are, in fact, a suitable model for these trials.
Outcomes of Medication Errors: Assessing the Opinion of Nurses in a Tertiary Institution in Southern Nigeria

Background: Medication errors cause a number of negative outcomes directly on the patient or indirectly on the nurse and healthcare system. Objective: To assess the outcomes of medication errors based on respondents’. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among nurses in a tertiary institution in Nigeria. Total population was 596 while the sample size of 119 Nurses was randomly selected. Instrument for data collection was a validated self-developed questionnaire. Descriptive statistic was used to analyze data. Results: Findings of the study revealed that 72 (60.5%) of the respondents have been involved in medication errors. Outcomes of medication errors varied. A total of 16 (22.2%) indicated that death was the outcome of medication errors on the patient. Furthermore, 20 (27.8%) felt guilty and a similar proportion lost confidence in their clinical practice, while 23 (32.0%) of respondents indicated increased financial burden on the hospital as the outcome of medication errors on the hospital where they practice. Conclusion: Outcomes of medication errors affect patients, nurses and healthcare settings. Based on the findings, strategies to address medication errors and improving the quality of medication handling safety in hospital settings is paramount to minimise its prevalence.
Cross-Cultural Differences in Cognitive Style, Individualism/Collectivism and Map Reading between Central European and East Asian University Students

The article examines cross-cultural differences encountered in the cognitive processing of specific cartographic stimuli. We conducted a comparative experimental study on 98 participants from two different cultures, the first group comprising Czechs (N = 53) and the second group comprising Chinese (N = 22) and Taiwanese (N = 23). The findings suggested that the Central European participants were less collectivistic, used similar cognitive style and categorized multivariate point symbols on a map more analytically than the Asian participants. The findings indicated that culture indeed influenced human perception and cognition of spatial information. The entire research model was also verified at an individual level through structural equation modelling (SEM). Path analysis suggested that individualism and collectivism was a weak predictor of the analytic/holistic cognitive style. Path analysis also showed that cognitive style considerably predicted categorization in map point symbols.
Determinants of Poverty of the Tea Garden Labour Community of Dibrugarh District of Assam, India

Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study is to identify the factors that can determine the poverty status of the tea garden labour community. Methodology: To identify the sample household’s poverty status the state specific rural poverty line as fixed by the Rangarajan Committee of Planning Commission of India (2014) is used. A Logistic regression model is used to identify the main determinants of poverty of the sample households. Results: The results show that the household size, education of the head of the household, employment status of the head of the household and the number of earning members in the household are the main determinants of poverty of the tea garden labour community. Conclusion: The policymakers should give importance on access to education, employment opportunities and should also made effort to encourage smaller family size to reduce poverty.
MODELING THE ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF RAPPORT

Rapport refers to when two people “click”. While business education researchers have begun to study rapport, most past research has principally focused on students’ perceptions of rapport. Until recently, faculty perceptions of rapport had never been studied nor contrasted with those of students. Understanding this is critical as rapport between faculty and students can improve learning and bestow other positive student and faculty benefits (i.e., Frisby & Martin 2010; Meyers 2009; Starcher 2011; Wilson et al. 2010). Employing qualitative research, Granitz et al. (2009) uncovered faculty’s views of the antecedents and outcomes of rapport between faculty and students. Based on the results of this study, a faculty-student model of rapport was developed (but not tested). This model predicts that Mutual Openness, Respect, Caring and Homophily factors serve as antecedents to rapport. These antecedents are predicted to result in four outcomes, including Enhanced Learning, Motivation to Learn More, Extra Faculty Attention and Relationship Effectiveness. A limitation of this past research lies in the use of qualitative data and convenience sampling.
INFLUENCE OF JOB COMPETENCE ON EMPLOYEE’S PERFORMANCE IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

ABSTRACT Human assets are one of the most important resources available to any organization. The demand for effective employees continuously increases both in private and public universities. This is because employee competence and commitment largely determine the objectives that an organization can set for itself and to its success in achieving them. The study sought to determine the influence of job competence on employee’s performance in private universities in Kenya. The research study adopted a descriptive survey design which was based on the use of a questionnaire. The population of the study included all the 35 private universities in Kenya. The data was collected using questionnaires from employees of private universities in Kenya. Correlation analysis and regression analysis were conducted as the key analytical tools. The results showed that there was a strong positive relationship between job competence on employee’s performance in private universities in Kenya. The study recommends that the universities should place emphasis on the influence of job competence in order to enhance employee’s performance and competiveness.
Explaining Trends and Factors Affecting Export Diversification in ASEAN and SAARC Regions: An Empirical Analysis

This paper examines the role played by country-specific factors in the determination of export product diversification process. To meet this objective, the paper begins by constructing a time series data for export diversification using the Herfindahl index. Then, it applies the fully modified OLS co-integration model to a panel of selected ASEAN and SAARC countries to find out the main determinants of export product diversification. Export diversification pattern shows that since the mid1980s the ASEAN countries have continuously witnessed export diversification and the SAARC countries embarked on export diversification journey since the early 1990s. Analysis of the determinants suggests that foreign direct investment, domestic investment, competitiveness, real depreciation of domestic currency, financial sector development and institutional strength are significantly and positively related to export product diversification in both regions. These findings have important policy implications for the two regions. They call upon the policymakers for further diversification of exports, especially in the areas of their specialization that are vital for their smooth and sustained foreign exchange earnings as well as economic development. The study also recommends improving international competitive strength via improving business environment to achieve the goal of export product diversification.
Tax incidence in the fuel market: Evidence from station-level data

This paper examines heterogeneity in the pass-through of a substantial diesel tax increase in Finland using stationand daily-level microdata. The estimated average pass-through rate is approximately 80% of the nominal tax increase. The pass-through rates differ across income groups, ranging from 90% in the lowest income septile to 76% in the highest income septile. These results suggest that fuel taxes are regressive. We also find evidence that the pass-through rate is larger in the most sparsely populated rural areas than in the most urban areas. Finally, we find evidence that the supply side anticipated the reform and filled up storage diesel tanks in the last months preceding the large diesel tax increase.
A Feature Extraction Approach to Handle Variations in Camera Viewpoint for Computer Vision Tasks

—In this paper, an action recognition method that can adaptively handle the problems of variations in camera viewpoint is introduced. Our contribution is three-fold. First, a space-sampling algorithm based on a ﬃ ne transform in multiple scales is proposed to yield a series of di ﬀ erent viewpoints from a single one. A histogram of dense optical ﬂow is then extracted over each ﬁxed-size patch for a given generated viewpoint as a local feature descriptor. Second, a dimension selection procedure is also proposed to retain only the dimensions that have distinctive information and discard the unnecessary ones in the feature vector space. Third, to adapt to a situation in which video data in multiple viewpoints are used for training, an extended method with a voting algorithm is also introduced to increase the recognition accuracy. By conducting experiments using both simulated and realistic datasets 1 , the proposed method is validated. The method is found to be accurate and capable of maintaining its accuracy under a wide range of viewpoint changes. In addition, the method is less sensitive to variations in subject scale, subject position, action speed, partial occlusion, and background. The method is also validated by comparing with state-of-the-art view-invariant action recognition methods using well-known i3DPost and MuHAVi public datasets.
Analysis of Efficacy of Adjunctive Mitomycin-C in External Dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) in Chronic Dacryocystitis: A Prospective, Double-Masked Study

Objective: The aims of this study were to assess the efficacy of intraoperative adjunctive mitomycin C (MMC) treatment in external DCR surgery and to compare this procedure with the standard DCR procedure alone. Materials and Methods: There were 60 patients in this study who were divided into 2 groups. In group A, MMC was used intraoperatively at the osteotomy site for a period of thirty minutes. In Group B, Conventional External DCR was done without using an adjuvant. The study population included patients with acquired nasolacrimal duct obstruction . After the surgery, patients were assessed at 1st week, 1st, 3rd and 6th month respectively. Results: The mean age of the study group was 43.88+/-10.51 years. Patients in both the groups were followed up regularly. Postoperatively at 6th month of visit, it was found that 2 (6.7%) out of 30 patients in Group A (MMC) and 6 patients (20%) among 30 in Group B(Conventional) reported with symptoms of watering of eyes and on examination had a high tear meniscus height, thereby had a non-patent lacrimal drainage system following surgery. On comparison there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups with the P value of 0.001. It was revealed that success rate was better in MMC group when compared with the Conventional group. Conclusion: External dacryocystorhinostomy with intraoperative mitomycin-C is more efficacious in achieving lacrimalsystem patency than external dacryocystorhinostomy without mitomycin-C.
Black TiO2 Thin Films Production Using Hollow Cathode Hydrogen Plasma Treatment: Synthesis, Material Characteristics and Photocatalytic Activity

Black TiO2 materials have been quite widely explored due to their large solar absorption and superior photocatalytic activity. In this paper, the blackening process of titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film using the hollow cathode hydrogen plasma (HCHP) technique is reported. First, pristine anatase TiO2 films were grown by magnetron sputtering onto silicon and cover glass substrates and then annealed at 450 ◦C for 2 h. Then, the as-grown TiO2 films were treated with HCHP for 15 min. The physical, chemical and morphological properties of the films were analyzed by profilometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. Electrical and photocatalytic measurements were performed by four-point probe and methylene blue UV degradation assays, respectively. The results showed that the black TiO2 film is highly absorbent in the UV-visible region, has low electrical resistance and greater surface area compared to the non-treated TiO2 film. These properties of black TiO2 film, as well as its performance as a photocatalytic agent, were investigated, indicating the superior quality of this material in thin film form and the promising potential of the HCHP treatment to produce hydrogenated TiO2 in short process time.
Etiology, Epidemiology, Pathogenesis and Diagnosis of Marek’s Disease in Chickens: A Mini Review

Marek’s disease (MD) is a worldwide tumor forming disease in chickens, which is highly contagious and lymphoproliferative in nature. The Marek’s disease virus (MDV) also known as alpha- herpesvirus causes T cell lymphoma and infiltration of nerves and organs by lymphocytes in chickens. The disease is diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for its tumor causing Meq gene, virus isolation and antigen enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). New approaches of diagnosis of MDV include Loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), real time PCR (quantitative-PCR), nested PCR and immunofluorescence, which are proving milestones in detecting Marek’s disease at early stage. CVI988is the gold standard for protecting chickens against MDV. This review describes the etiology, symptoms, characteristics, epidemiology, pathogenesis, serotypes of MDV and principle, merits and demerits of various diagnostic methods of MDV and its prevention. A new electrochemical technique i.e. DNA biosensor/ genosensor for simple, fast, sensitive and specific detection of MDV is proposed.
Transition Skills Training And Performance Of Learners With Moderate Mental Disabilities In Nyanza Provice, Kenya

The transition skills are designed to help students with disabilities leave school and be successfully integrated in the community. Such students include those with Moderate Mental Disabilities (MMD) most of who can carry out work and self-care tasks with moderate supervision. However, despite the Kenya government efforts to improve access to education and also the quality of education to increase the levels of successful transition among these category of learners into the community and their inclusion into the labor market, most of them remain unemployed as evidenced in Nyanza Province in Kenya. This has been attributed to the lack of proper transition training while in school. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to identify the skill areas learners with moderate mental disabilities are trained in for transition from school to community in Nyanza Province, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey design and was conducted in four special schools for learners with mental disabilities in the area. 3 head teachers, 40 teachers, 36 parents and 61 learners in pre-vocational and vocational classes selected through saturated simple random and stratified sampling participated in the study. Instrumentation consisted of behavior checklist for learners, questionnaire for head teachers and questionnaire for teachers. An interview schedule for the parents was also used. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included use of frequency counts and percentages. The study revealed that most learners with MMD had vocational trained as opposed to academic training. The results showed that mot learners exhibited satisfactory performance on vocational behaviors’ and work habits while performing varied tasks although they needed moderate supervision. Therefore, transition skills are very important for learners with disabilities especially those with disabilities considered to be higher in degree such as MMD. The trainings can, however, only improve the levels of social interaction and task performance leading to moderate levels of dependence but not total independence for persons with this form of disability. Hence, the study recommends that there is need for high levels of cooperation between the school and the parents in order to obtain better transition outcomes for learners with MMD.