Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of Video Modeling for Reading Instruction for Students with Disabilities or at Risk: A Research Synthesis

ABSTRACT Video modeling (VM) is known as an effective practice for teaching various skills to students with disabilities. However, there are a lack of studies investigating the effects of VM on improving student academic reading skills. The 13 selected single-case design studies published by 2019 were systematically reviewed to understand how VM was used for teaching reading skills to PK-12 grade students with disabilities or at risk, and the effects of VM on improving their reading performance. In addition, the methodological quality of the studies was evaluated using the What Works Clearing house standards. Results of this study revealed that VM intervention was effective for improving students’ reading skills. However, the results indicated the effect was smaller than the effects of VM on non-academic skills that previous studies have reported. The results also indicated that there was a tendency that VM was used for teaching fluency skills mostly and iPads have been frequently used in recent years. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.
Polyethylene glycol derivatization of the non-active ion in active pharmaceutical ingredient ionic liquids enhances transdermal delivery

We report the synthesis of four salts composed of the salicylate anion ([Sal]−) paired with tributylammonium ([HN444]+), choline ([Cho]+), 1-methylpyrrolidinium ([HMPyrr]+), and triethylene glycol monomethyl ether tributylammonium ([mPEG3N444]+) cations. Three of the synthesized salts (room temperature liquids [mPEG3N444][Sal] and [Cho][Sal], and a supercooled liquid [HN444][Sal]) belong to the category of ionic liquids (ILs), and one salt (solid [HMPyrr][Sal]) was a crystalline solid. ILs in their neat form were studied for membrane transport through a silicon membrane, and exhibited higher transport compared to a control experiment with sodium salicylate dissolved in mPEG3OH as solvent, but lower membrane transport compared to salicylic acid dissolved in mPEG3OH. The ‘PEGylated’ IL, [mPEG3N444][Sal], crossed the membrane with an ca. ∼2.5-fold faster rate than that of any of the non-PEGylated ILs. This work demonstrates not only that API–ILs can eliminate the use of a solvent vehicle during application and notably transport through a membrane as opposed to a higher melting crystalline salt, but also that the membrane transport can be further enhanced by PEGylation of the counter ions.
Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine, 108-3 | 2021

Since the opening of the high glacial mountain to tourism, entry into this environment has been mediated by the tracks left on the snowy mantle. These tracks form a guideline that reflect the practice of wayfaring, understood as the entry into an uncertain pathway, which requires adaptation to conditions encountered and experienced. This research seeks an understanding of the pathfinding at play in recreational wayfaring in the high mountains – through the occurrence of tracks in accounts of ascents, through their figurative reproduction as traces in engravings and maps from different periods, and through reference to them in the discourse of mountain professionals. This “sense of wayfaring” articulates the evolution of itineraries and the conditions of access to the summit of Mont Blanc.
Wild edible plant species used in the Ağrı province, eastern Turkey

Wild edible plant species found in Agri are nutritionally and economically relevant. Plants are collected by the villagers and brought to the market for sale in the spring. Interest in these plants responds to the increasing demand for organic and natural food. In this study, 350 in-depth face-to-face interviews with villagers about the edible plants used in Agri (7 districts, 35 villages) were conducted in the region from April 2016 to October 2017. The species, parts used and their consumption and preservation techniques were analyzed and documented. Some of the wild edible plant species are consumed cured or canned, raw or cooked, dried, and some are frozen. The collected 100 wild edible species belong to 25 different plant families. Species are consumed as vegetables (91), spices (19), beverages (16), subterranean parts (5), fruits (3), seeds (3) and exudates (2). The most important species according to their cultural importance were: Amaranthus retroflexus, Beta trigyna, Gundelia tournefortii, Mentha longifolia, Polygonum persicaria, Rumex scutatus, Tragopogon porrifolius subsp. longirostris, and Urtica dioica. Leaves and young shoots were the most frequently used parts. Our study shows that wild edible plants are still well known and used by the local people of Agri as a food source. The documented data on these plants herein could be used as baseline information for further investigations on nutritional contents, as they could have the potential to become valuable nutrition sources.
Entrepreneurial networks in creative tourism place-making: Dali village, Wuhan, China

Abstract Entrepreneurial motivations and networks in creative tourism place-making are examined using a descriptive case study approach. In Dali creative village in Wuhan, China, place-making was primarily driven by creative artisans and entrepreneurs from elsewhere. Actors’ social networks were primarily personal and lacked business cooperation, indicating the organic nature of place-making. The diversity of individual resources, capabilities and expectations of entrepreneurs has led to the lack of a consistent vision of place-making. Tension over ownership of place-making appeared between residential and nonresidential groups. Creative tourism entrepreneurs need to adapt to the restructuring forces of tourism and commercialization and adjust social networks as place-making stages evolve. This research contributes to the understanding of social networks and their roles in place-making, with implications for creative tourism planning and management.
The Effect of Non-optional Green Practices in Hotels on Guests’ Behavioral Intentions

ABSTRACT New types of green practices called “non-optional” are trending in hotels replacing single-use mini toiletries in bathrooms and eliminating the use of plastic straws and plastic water bottles. This study examines how hotel guests’ green practice skepticism affects their purchase intentions, revisit intentions, and word-of-mouth intentions toward five non-optional green practices. The results found that green practice skepticism of non-optional green practices did not have a negative impact on guests’ behavioral intentions. Additionally, when bed linens and bath towels were changed every other day as a non-optional green practice, all of the behavioral intentions decreased significantly. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Assessing the 3-D Structure of Bamboo Forests Using an Advanced Pseudo-Vertical Waveform Approach Based on Airborne Full-Waveform LiDAR Data

Remote-sensing-assisted estimates of Moso bamboo forest structure are imperative for supporting sustainable forest management (SFM). Passive sensors have limited usages in characterizing continuous vertical structures of Moso bamboos since they have difficulty in penetrating dense upper canopies. Airborne full-waveform (FWF) Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology has shown significant potentials in providing an improved representation of 3-D structures in much denser canopies, while the capability of FWF to assess the structure of the unique Moso bamboo forests is less known. Many previous studies commonly assume perfectly vertical waveforms and do not account for slanted penetrations of waveforms in canopies. This study presented a framework for investigating the availability of FWF to assess subtropical Moso bamboo forest structures. We used a physical-based approach for radiometric calibration and an advanced voxel-based pseudo-vertical waveform approach to assign waveforms into voxels and reconstruct composite waveforms for extracting FWF metrics. Second, the differences in FWF-derived metrics in response to canopy structures across various management strategies were compared. Finally, the capability of FWF metrics for estimating bamboo structural parameters was evaluated by parametric and nonparametric models. The results showed that the FWF metrics varied significantly ( $p$ -values < 0.05) in response to different management strategies. In general, nonparametric approaches (locally weighted linear regression and k-nearest neighbor) outperformed parametric approaches (multiple linear regression). This study demonstrated that the pseudo-vertical waveform approach could improve the performances of FWF metrics for characterizing 3-D Bamboo forest structure and provide new insights on accurately estimating bamboo structural parameters across different management strategies.
Mouth breathing habit: a review

There are various physiological functions of the oral cavity which include respiration, swallowing, suckling, mastication and speech. All these functions are balanced in oral cavity. Any disturbance among any of these physiologic functions results to an abnormal growth and development of bony and soft tissue structures of the craniofacial complex. Human beings are considered to be nose breathers but various reasons can force them to adapt by breathing through their mouth instead of nose, and this can have extensive consequences. Breathing through both nose and mouth provide lungs with oxygen but with extremely dissimilar effects on the body and with different levels of oxygen supply.
Microscale spectrophotometric methods for quantification of functional groups in oxidized organic aerosol

ABSTRACT Spectrophotometric methods developed previously to quantify the major functional groups present in oxidized organic aerosol were modified for use with sample masses typical of those collected from ambient air. In these methods, carbonyl, hydroxyl, carboxyl, and ester groups are reacted with derivatizing agents that are specific to each functional group to form strongly light absorbing derivatives, a colored peroxide solution is formed through redox chemistry, and nitrates have an inherently strong absorbance. As described here, improved detection limits are made possible by measuring absorbance using a spectrophotometer that requires only a few microliters of solution for analysis, instead of the five milliliter volume required previously when using a standard cuvette. Use of this so-called NanoPhotometer allows comparable absorbances to be obtained with much less mass by concentrating samples by more than two orders of magnitude relative to previous methods. Detection limits are approximately 0.03, 0.02, 0.3, 1, 1, and 0.07 nmoles for carbonyl, hydroxyl, carboxyl, ester, peroxide, and nitrate groups, which correspond to approximately 0.8, 0.6, 10, 40, 50, and 5 ng of each functional group. In practice, depending on the composition of functional groups, the mass required for complete analysis of moderately oxidized organic aerosol is ∼10–100 µg. The new microscale methods were shown to provide good linearity, precision, and accuracy by comparing results from the analysis of standards and aerosol formed from reaction of α-pinene and O3 with results obtained using the previously developed macroscale methods. The evaluation demonstrates that the microscale methods can be used to quantify these six functional groups at low organic aerosol mass concentrations. Copyright © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research
Students' and instructors' evaluation of a foreign language textbook from an intercultural perspective

As teachers primarily rely on textbooks in the teaching of foreign languages, one way of helping and encouraging them to focus on intercultural competence (IC) is to provide them with the textbooks that facilitate intercultural language learning process. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the New Language Leader Pre-intermediate textbook from an intercultural perspective. This evaluation was primarily based on 132 students’ and 15 instructors’ perceptions of the textbook after they used it for two months in language classrooms at a preparatory school of a state university. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire adopted from a previous study. Data analysis was conducted with the help of SPSS 20.0. Descriptive Statistics was run to identify the frequencies and mean scores. Mann-Whitney U test was used to discover any possible significant difference in students’ and instructors’ perspectives. The results indicated that although most of the IC components such as knowledge, attitudes, awareness, and linguistic means existed in the textbook according to the participants, the extent of the representation of these in the textbook varied. Whereas the aims and goals of the textbook were thought to be in accordance with the conceptual framework of the students to a large extent, both students and instructors indicated that it did not provide much insight into learners’ own culture. Considering the findings, the stakeholders might have necessary revisions on the textbook and instructors might adapt some resources to fulfil the needs of their learners in the development of IC in similar contexts.
Perception versus production of contact-induced cantase in Galician Spanish

Though the existence of effects of Galician-Castilian contact on patterns of language use in Galicia have been well-documented, the exact scope and consequence of these effects is difficult to determine. This is due in part to the complex attitudes, both positive and negative, toward the Galician language. Because of this, societal reception of influences of Galician on Castilian –such as a heightened use of the verbal morpheme -se­– is not easily predictable, even though the form enjoys greater use in Galicia than elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. This study explores attitudes of 39 Galicians from the province of Pontevedra toward the production of the ‑se form, as well as how these attitudes impact participants’ production of the form. Results indicate that the Galician-influenced form ‑se is more prestigious than the ‑ra form that is more common outside of Galicia, though whether participants correctly perceive which form is influenced by the minority language is unclear.
Manometric monitoring of biological denitrification

A simple, automated manometric method is here discussed and applied to perform batch experiments for the stoichiometric and kinetic characterization of biological denitrification. The main strength of the proposed methodology is that it requires simple instrumentation, which is usually available in wastewater treatment plant laboratories, being it used in BOD and in BMP tests. The experimental setup consists of a glass bottle, a mixing and termostated system and a manometric bottle-head which can measure and log the overpressure that is caused by denitrified N2. At first, tests were conducted to determine the repeatability of the method; they were performed under low Food-to-Biomass ratio and with both endogenous and externally dosed carbon sources. Later, experimental procedures were performed to assess (1) the anoxic growth yield, (2) the endogenous anoxic decay rate; (3) the anoxic growth rate on acetate; (4) the fraction of anoxic active biomass in the sludge sample. Sludge samples for all these tests were taken from two WWTPs and 6 to 10 replicates were performed each time. Results indicated that the testing procedures is well repeatable and reliable and resulting estimates were within reported literature values.
INVESTIGATION OF SFLT-1 AND VEGF EXPRESSION IN NORMOTENSIVE AND PREECLAMPTIC PLACENTA. AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY

Objectives: The pathogenesis of preeclampsia is still not clear, but endothelial dysfunction believed to be one of the most encountered problems during placenta development in preeclamptic patients. Both vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its antagonist, soluble Fms-Like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), have roles in vascular function. In this study, we have investigated immunohistochemical expression of VEGF and sFlt-1 in term placenta of normotensive and preeclampsia patients. Methods: Totally twenty term placentas were obtained from pregnant women of which 10 preeclampsia patient and 10 normotensive. Placentas were dissected and tissue samples were subjected to routine tissue processing protocol, then embedded in paraffin blocks. Serial sections were obtained from paraffin blocks and stained with H&E and PAS for routine histopathology. VEGF and sFlt-1 immunohistochemistry was performed to the sections. Results: When compared to control group, severe pathological changes were observed in preeclamptic placentas. Increase in number of syncytial knots and intervillous bridges, hemorrhage in interstitium, dilatation and congestion in villous capillaries, increase in fibrin accumulation in villus stroma, and increase in thickening of basement membrane were very clear. VEGF expression was significantly higher in normotensive placentas compared to preeclamptic. On the other hand, sFlt-1 expression was significantly increased in preeclamptic placentas. Conclusions: When the VEGF and sFlt-1 expression was considered, higher expression of sFlt-1 at preeclampsia, but decrease in VEGF expression, might be related to endothelial dysfunction in preeclampsia. Overall, this study demonstrates, imbalance between VEGF and sFlt-1 is one of the major reason of endothelial dysfunction in preeclamptic placenta.
Evaluating the Alarm Fatigue and its Associated Factors among Clinicians in Critical Care Units

The Alarm Fatigue (AF) occurs when clinicians are exposed to a large number of false alarms which can cause alarm desensitization. AF is a well-recognized patient safety concern in intensive care settings. This study aims to evaluate the alarm fatigue in clinicians along with its associated factors in critical care settings using a valid and reliable instrument. During 2020, a cross-sectional study was conducted among clinicians working in Critical care units in Lebanon and enrolled 337 participants via self-administered electronic questionnaire. The survey included questions on socio-demographic characteristics, health status, staff recognition of alarms and alarm management, and Alarm Fatigue questionnaire. The translation and cultural adaptation of the Alarm Fatigue questionnaire in Arabic followed a standardized protocol. The mean age of participants was 30.79 (SD=7.26; median=29) years, 61.4% were women. 77.2% were nursing staff and 22.8% were physicians. 78.8% worked in private hospitals. 41.3% of staff were from neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. 58.8% of clinicians find that more than 50% of alarms were irrelevant, and 69.4% deactivate and silence the alarm when annoyed. The Alarm Fatigue questionnaire has good reliability and validity. The Cronbach alpha was 0.69 which establishes good reliability for group comparison. AF in physicians (OR=2.25; 95%CI=-0.01-4.50, p=0.05) and Registered Nurses (OR=2.64; 95%CI=-0.52-4.75, p=0.02) was higher than in nurses and head nurses; AF was more frequent in ICUs units (OR=2.1; 95%CI=0.05-4.18, p=0.04) compared to other critical care units. The AF was higher for the clinicians that deactivate and silence the alarm when annoyed compared to other subgroup (OR=4.14, 95%CI=2.75–5.53, p<0.001). The AF was 3.14 times frequent for the staff who reported stress (p<0.001). Non-actionable alarms occurred frequently and associated to alarm fatigue. Physicians score slightly higher alarm fatigue than nurses. The Arabic Alarm Fatigue questionnaire has a good psychometric properties and suitable to evaluate the AF in Lebanon. Multidisciplinary approaches can be established to minimize the incidence of AF using a valid and reliable instrument.
Techno-economic analysis for the production of LaNi5 particles

LaNi5 is widely used in various applications. Many methods to produce LaNi5 particles have been reported but information for the large-scale production, so far, is less available. This study aimed to evaluate the project for the production of LaNi5 particles using combustion-reduction (CR) and co-precipitation-reduction (CPR) methods based on engineering and economic perspective. Engineering evaluation was conducted by evaluating the CR and CPR processes from stoichiometry. For the economic evaluation, several economic parameters were calculated in the ideal condition including gross profit margin (GPM), payback period (PBP), break-even point (BEP), cumulative net present value (CNPV), profitability index (PI), internal rate return (IRR), and return on investment (ROI). For the worst cases in the project, it was done by calculating both the internal problems (i.e., raw materials, sales, utility, labor, employee, fixed cost, variable cost, and production capacity) and the external issues (i.e., taxes and subsidiaries). The engineering analysis provided the information that CR and CPR projects are prospective for being able to be done using commercial apparatuses. The economic analysis from GPM, PBP, BEP, CNPV, and PI showed the positive results, while IRR and ROI showed the negative ones, indicating that the projects are acceptable for large-scale production, but it seems to be less attractive for industrial investors. The analysis also confirmed that the CR process was more prospective than the CPR process. This work has demonstrated the important of the projects for further developments.
The Relationship between Personality Types and Sexual Dysfunction

Sexual function is affected by various physiological and psychological factors. Individual differences and various personality types are effective in response to sexual function. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between sexual function and personality types among the women referred to healthcare centers in Shiraz in 2014-2015. This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 514 women referred to healthcare centers in Shiraz. The study data were collected using a demographic information form, Female Sexual Function Index, and NEO Personality Inventory. Written informed consent forms were also obtained from the participants. After all, the data were analysed through the SPSS software, version 19, using t-test, chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test. The results showed that sexual desire disorder in 39% of the participants, sexual arousal disorder in 38.6%, orgasm disorder in 25.5%, and sexual pain in 33%. The results also indicated that sexual desire, arousal, and pain were significantly associated with extroversion and reversely related to neuroticism. The score of extroversion was higher in the individuals without sexual dysfunction, while the score of neuroticism was higher among those with sexual dysfunction. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the women’s personality types as a technique for assessment of sexual dysfunction.
Global distribution network design: exploration of facility location driven by tax considerations and related cross-country implications

ABSTRACT Multinational corporations (MNCs) are moving not only their headquarters but also their logistics operations to low-tax jurisdictions to minimise the tax burden. However, the logistics and fiscal domains are guided by different principles. This study aims to explore the cross-country implications of locating facilities in low-tax jurisdictions to take advantage of tax arbitrage. A single case study is developed, considering a fashion MNC that moved its European warehouse from Italy to Switzerland. The study offers theoretical insights about cross-country logistics network reconfiguration, formalising three possible scenarios and deepening the related implications. A quantitative evaluation of those scenarios is proposed, updating logistics cost items by including fiscal specifics and exploring the mutual interdependence between logistics and fiscal elements. To improve the study’s managerial contribution, the influence of contextual parameters is also investigated, showing that facility location for tax purposes does not necessarily lead to maximise net income after taxes.