Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phytoremediation of Potential Toxic Elements in Contaminated Sewaged Soils by Canola (Brassica napus) or Indian mustard (Brassica juncea Czern.) Plants in Association with Mycorrhiza

In a completely randomized pot experiment design in the greenhouse the two hyper-accumulator plants Indian mustard and Canola were tested to phytoremediate PTEs in the presence and absence of vesiculararbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM) inoculation from the two contaminated sewaged soils. The first soil was highly contaminated with PTEs while the second one was only marginally contaminated. Results indicated that inoculation with VAM was effective in enhancing the phytoremediation process by both tested hyperaccumulator plants in highly and marginally contaminated sewaged soils. PTE's desorption from the studied contaminated sewaged soils was drastically affected by the type of the hyper-accumulating plants used. On the basis of the individual decontamination rate of each of the studied PTEs, Indian mustard plant was superior. On the other hand, using the calculated Zn equivalent values canola was more recommendable. This finding might be ascribed to the interaction between the different PTE's studied in soil system and the efficiency of canola in minimizing the hazards of PTE's under such conditions. According to the numerical values of β factor (correlated with ion uptake) canola exhibited a distinguished superiority to uptake PTEs from the studied contaminated sewaged soils system compared to Indian mustard and hence it is recommended under the specific conditions of sewaged soils. Generally, the phytoremediation process was more effective in the highly contaminated sewaged soil by Indian mustard associated with VAM.
Time-Lag Selection for Time-Series Forecasting Using Neural Network and Heuristic Algorithm

The time-series forecasting is a vital area that motivates continuous investigate areas of intrigued for different applications. A critical step for the time-series forecasting is the right determination of the number of past observations (lags). This paper investigates the forecasting accuracy based on the selection of an appropriate time-lag value by applying a comparative study between three methods. These methods include a statistical approach using auto correlation function, a well-known machine learning technique namely Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) along with a heuristic algorithm to optimize the choosing of time-lag value, and a parallel implementation of LSTM that dynamically choose the best prediction based on the optimal time-lag value. The methods were applied to an experimental data set, which consists of five meteorological parameters and aerosol particle number concentration. The performance metrics were: Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and R-squared. The investigation demonstrated that the proposed LSTM model with heuristic algorithm is the superior method in identifying the best time-lag value.
Attitudes towards Thai English: Indonesian Pre-service Teachers Lenses During Teaching Practicum in Thailand

Over the last few decades, World Englishes have shifted the paradigm of how both native and non-native speakers view English as a lingua franca. This paradigmatic shift has attracted scholars to conduct a plethora of investigations on the roles of English as an international language. However, scrutinizing the pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards Thai English amid their teaching practicum in Thailand remains under-explored, notably viewed from Indonesian perspectives. This study investigated Indonesian pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards Thai English within their teaching practicum in Thailand to fill this gap. Four Indonesian pre-service teachers performing teaching practicum at diverse Thai schools were recruited as the participants. The data were garnered through semi-structured interviews and analyzed with qualitative data analysis framework. The findings revealed that Thai English was less intelligible. Besides, they contended that Thai English enables them to experience emotional shifts. Eventually, Thai English has adapted from the English and Thai language. With these in mind, understanding and employing Thai English practically offers the Indonesian pre-service teachers another variety of English to communicate in the classroom.
Gender Differences in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) of Overweight and Obese Adults in a Representative Sample of Greek Urban Population

Background: The main objective was to investigate the relationship between Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) and Body Mass Index (BMI) status according to gender in a representative sample of Greek urban population. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 1060 participants (mean age 47.10 yr, 95%CI 46.09–48.07, 52.7% females) in a stratified sample of representative urban population during 1–20 Apr 2016 in Athens, Greece. Socio-demographic characteristics and medical history were involved. BMI (kg/m2) was calculated, based on reported height and weight. HRQL was assessed by using the Greek version of SF36. Parametric tests and multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to identify whether socio-demographic characteristics differed across BMI groups. Mann–Whitney test was used to detect significant differences in SF36 scales between men and women across different BMI and age groups. Multivariate stepwise linear regression analyses were performed to investigate the influence of sociodemographic variables on HRQL. Results: The effect of being overweight or obese differs by age and gender and that this negative impact in HRQL was greater in women than in men. More vulnerable were overweight young and obese middle-aged woman both in terms of physical and mental health. On the other hand, HRQL of normal weight men and women did not differ in almost all age groups. Conclusion: Gender differences on HRQL observed in the general population were mediated by the different way that the two genders affected by increases in body weight.
Transmission characteristics of dielectric loaded double trapezoidal‐ridge waveguide

As a new kind of broadband microwave component, transmission characteristics of dielectric loaded double trapezoidal‐ridge waveguide have been analysed by edge element method. Variations of the cutoff wavelength, single‐mode bandwidth and field patterns with the ridge dimensions for different values of dielectric constant have been investigated in details. Numerical results in this article provide an extension to the existing design data for ridge waveguides and are considered helpful in practical applications. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 1–4, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22025
Boomerang Flight Dynamics

Aerodynamic characteristics and flight dynamics of boomerangs are investigated. A basic aerodynamic model, developed in the 1960’s, is expanded upon using Blade Element Theory. The new aerodynamic model is coupled with a gyroscope model for rudimentary analyses. Some significant findings are made regarding the radius of a boomerang’s circular flight path, the required inclination angle of its axis-of-rotation, its trim state, as well as its dynamic stability. These discoveries provide a basic understanding of how the interplay between aerodynamic forces and moments, and gyroscopic precession combine to return the boomerang to its rightful owner by way of a circular flight path. A traditional V-shaped boomerang design is developed as a case study for further detailed analyses. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solutions provide accurate aerodynamic characteristics of the subject boomerang. The high-fidelity aerodynamic model is coupled with the equations of motion to provide accurate six-degree-of-freedom simulations of boomerang flight dynamics. Boomerang orientation during its flight trajectory is described by the classical Euler angles.
Single versus double 
2p
 excitation in neon projectiles scattered from surfaces

We scattered 0.45--5 keV ${\mathrm{Ne}}^{+}$ ions at Al surfaces, performing angle resolved measurements of electron spectra from autoionizing decay of excitations in the scattered projectiles, produced by electron promotion in close atomic encounters with target atoms. The shift and the broadening of the autoionization lines due to the motion of the emitting atoms in vacuum show that the double $2p$ excitation in neon projectiles occurs simultaneously in a single scattering event and not in two consecutive collisions, as commonly assumed. Implications of our findings are commented upon for their relevance in research on charge exchange and energy deposition in ion-solid interactions, which are expected to be of interest for many fields.
SCALE DRAM subsystem power analysis

To address the needs of the next generation of low-power systems, DDR2 SDRAM offers a number of low-power modes with various performance and power consumption tradeoffs. The SCALE DRAM Subsystem is an energy-aware DRAM system with various system policies that make use of these modes. In this thesis, we design and implement a DDR2 DRAM controller and test a version of the SCALE DRAM Subsystem in hardware. Power measurements from the actual DRAM chips are taken and compared to datasheet derived values, and an analysis of the DRAM refresh requirements is performed. Some notable power consumption results include active powerdown being much closer to precharge powerdown and reads taking much less current than the datasheet indicates. In addition, based on the refresh tests, a system that powers down at least 12.3s for each 32MB of traffic can save power using delayed refresh and ECC data encoding. Thesis Supervisor: Krste Asanovic Title: Associate Professor
Mathematics Performance Profiles and Relation to Math Avoidance in Adolescence: The Role of Literacy Skills, General Cognitive Ability and Math Anxiety

ABSTRACT The main aim of the study was to differentiate adolescent profiles by math performance at the beginning and end of the final two years of lower secondary school, and relevant baseline attributes (literacy skills, general cognitive ability, math anxiety), and to investigate how these profiles differed by gender and math avoidance. A total of 193 Finnish lower secondary students participated in this study. Four profiles were identified: (1) High academic, average anxiety; (2) low academic, average anxiety; (3) average academic, high anxiety; and (4) average academic, average anxiety. They differed in baseline attributes, math performance over two school years, math avoidance, and in gender ratio. High levels of math anxiety was related to unfavourable math trajectory and future math avoidance. This high anxiety was typical of a certain group of average performers but not of the lowest performers. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.
Transformational Leadership in Software Projects

Lack of management in software projects is among the most important reasons for the failure of this kind of projects. Considering this fact, in addition to high rate of IS (Information System) projects’ failure, and the lack of leadership studies in IS field, it is necessary to pay more attention to the concept of leadership in software projects. Transformational leadership as one of the most popular leadership theories, although might bring specific advantages for this kind of projects, has not been outlined in this field of study. Therefore this study has tried to understand the meaning of transformational leadership in software projects and outline corresponding ideal pattern of this concept. Taking into account unique potentials qualitative research has in relation to research questions, Myers model of research design is selected to found whole study on. This model is especially designed to be used in business and management researches. Myers research model has five blocks. First block is related to philosophical assumption which for our study is interpretive. Second block is related to research method which is case study inspired by grounded theory, in our study. Data collection technique, the third block, is semi-structured interview. The fourth block which concerns data analysis approach is grounded theory encompassing analytic induction for our study. Finally the fifth block, written record, took the form of thesis report in current research study. This study has found required characteristics and behaviors of software project managers and drawn the lines of relationship between those attributes and transformational leadership. Comparing materialization of transformational leadership in software projects with the theory, led to finding of nearby transformational leadership or engaging leadership model as the ideal pattern of such concept in software projects. Finally shortages of that model in relation to software domain are investigated and consequent suggestions are provided.
The Association between Intimate Partner Violence, Depression and Influenza-like Illness Experienced by Pregnant Women in Australia

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a major public health issue, including during pregnancy where it poses a serious risk to the woman’s health. Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) also causes significant morbidity for women during pregnancy. It may be possible that ILI in pregnancy is associated with IPV, and that depression and trauma history play a role in the connection. 524 Australia-born women and 578 refugee-background women participated in the study. Baseline participants were randomly recruited and interviewed from antenatal clinics between January 2015 and March 2016, and they were reinterviewed six months post-partum. Bivariate and path analysis were used to assess links between IPV, depression and ILI. One in 10 women (10%; 111 out of 1102) reported ILI during their pregnancy period and this rate was significantly (p < 0.001) higher for women born in conflict-affected countries (13%; 76 out of 578) as compared to Australian-born women (7%; 35 out of 524). In both groups, Time 1 traumatic events, IPV and depression symptoms were significantly associated with ILI at Time 2. A significant association between IPV at Time 1 and ILI at Time 2 was fully mediated by depression symptoms at Time 1 (Beta = 0.36 p < 0.001). A significant direct path was shown from depression symptoms to ILI (Beta = 0.26, p < 0.001). Regardless of migration history, pregnant women who have experienced IPV and depression are more likely to report influenza-like symptoms in pregnancy. This may suggest that trauma and depression negatively affect immunity, although it could also indicate a connection between depressive symptoms and physical experiences of ILI.
Charting by Chaplains in Healthcare: White Paper of the European Research Institute for Chaplains in HealthCare (ERICH)

“If it is not charted: it did not happen. ” The charting of healthcare chaplaincy contacts in patient files has been controversially discussed in the literature in recent years. In particular, entries in digital medical records raise questions among pastoral care managers about confidentiality, data protection regulations and managerial interests. The European White Paper on charting in healtcare chaplaincy argues that charting chaplaincy contacts with patients and relatives (1) makes their spiritual needs visible, (2) contributes to improved interprofessional communication about chaplaincy and (3) makes the work of chaplains transparant. Charting improves the quality of care for patients, promotes the professionalism of chaplaincy and facilitates interdisciplinary exchange and multi-professional cooperation. It should be noted that entries in patient files should be made as if the patient were reading them. Descriptions must be adequate, understandable and concrete: The reason for the contact, assessment, changes resulting from the contact, interventions made and further planning are five steps of patientcentred pastoral care documentation. They respect patient rights and the principles of clinical ethics. In each case, questions of the software used, access rights and the use of the collected data material need to be clarified. The documentation of chaplaincy contacts can improve the relationship between patient and chaplain if it is included in the care. Last but not least, chaplaincy charting creates a data basis for practice-oriented research and training and for the development of the profession.
Financing inventories with an investment efficiency objective: ROI-maximising newsvendor, bank loans and trade credit contracts

Our work offers an understanding of how capital efficiency metrics, such as Return-on-Investment (ROI), affect orders at a stand-alone single stocking stage under demand uncertainty or within bilateral supply chains of a supplier and buyer interacting with the use of a trade-credit-contract. In both environments, the buyer is looking for financing its inventories either through a bank or through the supplier via extended payment terms. In the single stocking stage case, our buyer – the newsvendor – exhibits conservative behaviour and orders less than the traditional quantity. The analysis of the bilateral supply chain of our newsvendor buyer and a supplier, who is willing to finance the buyer's inventories via trade-credit contract, continues to support the low interest rate of such contracts. Interestingly now the buyer orders more than under profit optimisation. The ROI-driven buyer enjoys higher margins due to unusually low supplier financing rates even at slightly increased wholesale. The overall supply chain efficiency improves, and the supplier increases her percentage of the chain profit by offering higher wholesale prices but accepting some inventory financing risk. Using ROI to make ordering decisions better aligns these decisions with sound working capital management metrics while accounting in a balanced way for profit margins.
Phenomenology of Parenting while Schooling among Filipino College Student Mothers in the Province

This phenomenological study sought to explore the lived experiences of student mothers enrolled in a Philippine higher education institution situated in the province. Participants were determined using a purposive sampling technique with the following criteria: currently enrolled in the higher education institution; has at least a child; 20 years old or above. FB Messenger was used in interviewing and gathering the research data. From the thematic data analysis, four major themes were revealed: (1) challenges faced by student mothers; (2) advantages of being a student mother; (3) managing time in dual roles; and (4) support by others. The student mothers face challenges in performing their dual role such as bullying, time management, and financial problem. The student mothers, however, get source of inspiration, respect, school excuses, and important lessons in life. Their parenting experience gives them a strong personality and an inspiration to continue their education pursuits. Though managing time is really hard for them, they are able to surpass it through time management and parental help. Support systems such as their teachers, classmates, parents, friends, and relatives also play a significant role in their lives. This study provides understanding on how to make tertiary education more accessible and transformational most especially to women who handle the dual roles as students and parents.
Fare Variable Construction and Rail Transit Ridership Elasticities: Case Study of the Washington, D.C., Metrorail System

Two contributions are provided to the economic and transportation literature on rail transit ridership fare elasticities. First, several fare variables are constructed with controls for the decentralized nature of metropolitan employment; this relaxes the traditional assumption that railtransit patrons commute to a central city station. Second, rail transit demand elasticities are estimated using data from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area rail transit system; research on this system has been absent from the literature on demand elasticities. Analysis of the extensive data shows that restricting rail patron travel patterns according to the monocentric urban model underestimates by 35 percent to 68 percent the responsiveness of ridership to fare increases.
A morphing trailing edge device for a wind turbine

The loads on wind turbine components are primarily from the blades. It is important to control these loads in order to avoid damaging the wind turbine. Rotor control technology is currently limited to controlling the rotor speed and the blade pitch. As blades increase in length, it becomes less desirable to pitch the entire blade as a single rigid body, but there is a requirement to control loads more precisely along the length of the blade. This can be achieved with aerodynamic control devices such as flaps. Morphing structures are good candidates for wind turbine flaps because they have the potential to create structures that have the conflicting abilities of being load carrying, lightweight and shape adaptive. A morphing flap design with an anisotropic cellular structure is presented, which is able to undergo large deflections and high strains. An aeroelastic analysis couples the work done by aerodynamic loads on the flap, the flap strain energy and the required actuation work to change shape. The morphing flap model is manufactured, and its stiffness is measured.
The impact of multiple interviews on the accuracy and narrative coherence of children’s memories

ABSTRACT This study investigated the accuracy and narrative coherence of children’s accounts of a staged event across two interviews in comparison to a control condition to discern between the effects of repeated recall and delay between interviews. Seventy-six 8–11-year-olds took part in a first aid training session. Half of the children were randomly assigned to be interviewed using open-ended questions twice, one week after the event and five weeks after the event, whilst the other half were interviewed only once, five weeks after the event. Supporting the hypotheses, children reported more details over the course of two interviews than in a single interview either 1-week or 5-weeks after the event, and details that remained consistent across the two interviews were more accurate than reminisced details. The increased completeness of children’s accounts in two interviews was accompanied by an increase in the use of markers of causal-temporal connectedness. The hypothesis regarding the negative effect of delay on the accuracy of children’s testimony was partially supported, as details reported in the first, 1-week interview were more accurate than details in the single 5-week interview. Results demonstrate that multiple interviews can increase the narrative coherence of children’s testimony without decreasing their accuracy.
Dropout Time and Learners’ Performance in Computer Programming MOOCs

One of the problems regarding MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) is the high dropout rate. Although dropout periods have been studied, there is still a lack of understanding of how dropout differs for MOOCs with different levels of difficulty. A quantitative study was conducted to determine the periods with the highest dropouts in computer programming MOOCs and the performance of the dropouts on the course before dropping out. Four occurrences of three MOOCs, with different durations, difficulty of the topic, and the degree of supportive methods, were included. The results showed that dropout was highest at the beginning of all studied courses. Learners also dropped out before the project. In the easier and shorter courses, most dropouts were successful until they quit the course. In longer and more difficult courses, learners mainly dropped out in the week they started due to experiencing problems with the course activities. It is suggested to recommend that learners take courses at a level that suits them if their current course is too easy or difficult and encourage learners to use course resources for help. It would be a good idea to provide learners with example topics to assist them in starting with a project.