Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Challenges to the successful implementation of eGovernment initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Literature Review

With the dawn of the technological age due to the wide spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs), e‑government is fast becoming of prime importance. This has prompted many governments (those of Sub‑Saharan African ‑ SSA incl uded) to start thinking of going digital. This growing importance stems from the fact that e‑government has the capability of promoting better governance, transparency, raising service performance and eliminating bottlenecks in the service delivery proce ss. This paper is based on a literature review of the papers and documents relating to e‑government and investigates the challenges to the successful implementation of e‑government initiatives in all the 49 African countries in SSA for the period 2001 to 2012. In order to conduct a systematic review the guidelines suggested by Webster and Watson (2002) and Okoli and Schabram (2010) have been followed. In total 75 relevant articles and documents have been examined all of which have been published in le ading journals, conferences proceedings, reports from governmental and non‑governmental organizations. The results show that ICT infrastructure, human resources, legal framework, Internet access, the digital divide, and connectivity are among the most com mon themes on the challenges to the successful implementation of e‑government initiatives in Sub‑Saharan African countries. These themes are further grouped into six different aspects abbreviated as IF‑POSH (Infrastructural, financial, political, organis ational, socio‑economic and human). Among these six aspects, infrastructural and human aspects are the most important challenges that the respective governments in SSA need to address prior to adopting implementation strategies. The study suggests that g overnments of the Sub‑Saharan African countries can benefit from the advantages of e‑government if they address these challenges collectively allowing for the sensitivity of certain socio‑economic realities.
Employee Stress and Turnover Intentions of Employees in Hotel Organizations

This study was conducted to examine the extent of association between employee job stress level with the employee turnover intentions. A descriptive case study design was used as a guide in the data collection process, the development of propositions and instruments, and the analysis of data or information. In comparing the overall mean scores of the two variables, the result indicated a very close association between the employee job stress level with the employee turnover intentions. Regardless, however, the overview of literature did highlight some other aspects that should be considered, such as the workplace environment, workload and scheduling, the availability of career paths that would have an influence of the employees turnover intentions or the employees actual turnover rates.
Organic Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage: Influence of Molecular Structure on Properties

Materials that change phase (e.g., via melting) can store thermal energy with energy densities comparable to batteries. Phase change materials will play an increasing role in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, by scavenging thermal energy for later use. Therefore, it is useful to have summaries of phase change properties over a wide range of materials. In the present work, we review the relationship between molecular structure and trends in relevant phase change properties (melting temperature, and gravimetric enthalpy of fusion) for about 200 organic compounds from several chemical families, namely alkanes (paraffins), fatty acids, fatty alcohols, esters, diamines, dinitriles, diols, dioic acids, and diamides. We also review availability and cost, chemical compatibility, and thermal and chemical stabilities, to provide practical information for PCM selection. Compounds with even chain alkyl lengths generally give higher melting temperatures, store more thermal energy per unit mass due to more efficient packing, and are of lower cost than the comparable compounds with odd alkyl chains.
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices on Urinary Schistosomiasis among Primary Schoolchildren in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa

Background Schistosomiasis remains a public health concern in South Africa (SA), with the highest prevalence of infection found among schoolchildren under the age of 15 years. Knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) studies on schistosomiasis among schoolchildren under the age of 15 years are lacking in the study area. The study therefore assessed primary schoolchildren in Grades 4–7 to determine their knowledge regarding schistosomiasis in the various ages represented in these grades. Methods The study employed a quantitative descriptive, cross-sectional survey research design approach. A structured, close-ended, Likert-scale, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 458 learners in Grades 4 to 7 aged from 9 to 16 years. Data were analysed using Statistica version 13 software. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were further used to analyse and describe the data and significant associations at p = 0.05 were further interrogated using Cohen's d and Cramér's V, to determine the practical significance. Results Of the 458 learners who completed the questionnaire, 248 (54%) acknowledged having heard of schistosomiasis previously. There was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (0.779). The KAP scores were calculated as a percentage ranging between 0% and 100%, and this range was split into five equal width intervals 0–19%, 20–39%, 40–60%, 61–80%, and 81–100%. For knowledge, 210 (46%) of the participants obtained a score in the interval 0–19%. For attitudes, 237 (52%) of the participants obtained a score in the interval 0–19%. Therefore, the overall knowledge and attitudes among the study participants towards schistosomiasis were poor. There was a significant difference (p = 0.0005, V = 0.42 medium) between male and female participants relating to their practices. It was observed that a high percentage, 69 (15%) of males reported to swimming in slow-moving water compared to a significantly lower percentage, 9 (5%) of females. Furthermore, 23% of the participants reported that there was a river on the way to school. Conclusion The study revealed that there was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude. The overall knowledge and attitudes on schistosomiasis were poor. Furthermore, a gender-related difference based on practices emerged significant in the study. The findings are thus valuable in designing effective and targeted schistosomiasis control programmes.
Application of tabu search to optimal placement of distributed generators

Distributed generators (DGs) such as fuel cells, solar cells, wind mills and micro gas turbines, etc. are going to be installed on the demand side of power systems. Such distributed generators can reduce distribution loss if they are placed appropriately in the distribution system. In this paper, a tabu search application for finding the optimal allocation of DGs from a viewpoint of loss minimization is illustrated. In other words, the authors discuss about an implementation method of tabu search to find how much distribution loss can be reduced if DGs are optimally allocated at the demand side of a power system. Namely, locations and discrete capacities of DGs to minimize the distribution loss are determined by nested use of the tabu search algorithm. Numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the method.
Making decisions under stress: Implications for individual and team training.

"Making Decisions Under Stress: Implications for Individual and Team Training" represents the culmination of a seven-year research project called TADMUS (tactical decision making under stress). The goal of the programme, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, was to develop training, simulation, decision support and display principles that would help to mitigate the impact of stress on decision making. The volume outlines the overall background, research approach and paradigm employed by TADMUS, with specific focus on research regarding how to train decision making at the individual and team levels - especially how to provide training that will prepare individuals to operate in complex team environments. The chapters explore complex, realistic tasks with experienced Navy participants. Throughout the book, the authors explore the research implications and the lessons learned that may guide those interested in applying results of the research in operational environments. Although TADMUS focused on a military decision-making environment, its programme of research has applicability across a variety of task environments that pose similar demands on human operators.
Effect of Fiber Content and Silane Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of Recycled Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Fiber Composites

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of fiber content and then silane treatment on the mechanical performance of the natural fiber composites of recycled acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) provided by the automotive sector. Wood and palmyra fibers were used as fillers in 10% and 20% fiber content composites. The fibers were treated with N-(2-Aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane to improve the interfacial adhesion between fibers and polymer matrices. The mechanical properties of the composites were determined by tensile and impact tests. Morphological analysis was later performed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). According to the experiment results, the tensile and impact strength of both wood and palmyra fibers increase after silane treatment. However, for the low-wood-fiber-content composite, the tensile and impact strength decrease after silane treatment due to the presence of an excess amount of silane relative to fiber content. The addition of wood and palmyra fibers significantly improved the tensile modulus of composite material and further increases slightly after silane treatment. Finally, SEM analysis shows a homogenous mix of fibers and polymer matrices with fewer voids after silane treatment, thereby improving interfacial adhesion.
Acquisition, (Mis)use and Dissemination of Information: The Blessing of Cursedness and Transparency

This paper studies strategic interactions where players observe statistics of others’ actions, focusing on: First, the endogeneity of the precision of such aggregate information as signals of the fundamental; and second, agents’ well-documented difficulty in making inference based on such signals. We conduct our analysis in a beauty contest game with information acquisition, adapting cursed equilibrium to model agents limited ability to process aggregative information. To discipline information acquisition choices in this setting with incorrect information use, we define a novel notion of cursed expectations equilibrium with information acquisition: Agents assess the value of private information according to a subjective envelope condition, as they correctly anticipate their actions and (incorrectly) deem them optimal. We show that there is inefficiently low acquisition and use of private information in the rational benchmark due to an information dissemination externality. Despite suboptimal use, cursed agents rely more heavily on their private information which pushes information acquisition towards its efficient level and causes an initial increase in welfare. Transparency crowds out private information but always increases the endogenous precision of the aggregative signal and welfare, while other policy instruments can have paradoxical effects due to their interaction with cursedness. Finally, we explore the behavior and welfare of an atomistic rational agent playing against a cursed crowd and demonstrate that transparency may be an elitist policy.
Tau differentially regulates the transport of early endosomes and lysosomes

Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) modulate the motility of kinesin and dynein along microtubules to control the transport of vesicles and organelles. The neuronal MAP tau inhibits kinesin-dependent transport. Phosphorylation of tau at tyrosine 18 by fyn kinase results in weakened inhibition of kinesin-1. We examined the motility of early endosomes and lysosomes in cells expressing wild-type (WT) tau and phosphomimetic Y18E tau. Lysosome motility is strongly inhibited by tau. Y18E tau preferentially inhibits lysosomes in the cell periphery, while centrally located lysosomes are less affected. Early endosomes are more sensitive to tau than lysosomes, and are inhibited by both WT and Y18E tau. Our results show that different cargoes have disparate responses to tau, likely governed by the types of kinesin motors driving their transport. In support of this model, kinesin-1 and -3 are strongly inhibited by tau while kinesin-2 and dynein are less affected. In contrast to kinesin-1, we find that kinesin-3 is strongly inhibited by phosphorylated tau.
Modeling Radiation Belt Electrons With Information Theory Informed Neural Networks

An empirical model of radiation belt relativistic electrons (μ = 560–875 MeV G−1 and I = 0.088–0.14 RE G0.5) with average energy ∼1.3 MeV is developed. The model inputs solar wind parameters (velocity, density, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) |B|, Bz, and By), magnetospheric state parameters (SYM‐H and AL), and L*. The model outputs the radiation belt electron phase space density (PSD). The model is operational from L* = 3 to 6.5. The model is constructed with neural networks assisted by information theory. Information theory is used to select the most effective and relevant solar wind and magnetospheric input parameters plus their lag times based on their information transfer to the PSD. Based on the test set, the model prediction efficiency (PE) increases with increasing L*, ranging from −0.043 at L* = 3 to 0.76 at L* = 6.5. The model PE is near 0 at L* = 3–4 because at this L* range, the solar wind and magnetospheric parameters transfer little information to the PSD. Using solar wind observations at L1 and magnetospheric index (AL and SYM‐H) models solely driven by solar wind, the radiation belt model can be used to forecast PSD 30–60 min ahead. This baseline model can potentially complement a class of empirical models that input data from low earth orbit (LEO).
Assessing Regional Model Predictions of Wintertime SOA from Aromatic Compounds and Monoterpenes with Precursor-specific Tracers

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, with modifications to track precursorspecific SOA, was applied to model SOA formation from aromatic compounds and monoterpenes in Shanghai in November 2018. The modeled total aromatic SOA showed a strong correlation with measured 2,3-dihydroxy-4-oxopentanoic acid (DHOPA) concentrations in the ambient aerosols (R > 0.5 for hourly data and R > 0.75 for daily average data). The ratios of observed DHOPA and modeled aromatic SOA with all components included is around (0.5–1.6) × 10–3, lower than the commonly used ratio of 4 × 10–3 determined for toluene in a series of smog chamber experiments. This suggests that aromatic SOA could be underestimated when directly using the chamber-derived ratios. The predicted monoterpene SOA shows a stronger correlation with the sum of two α-pinene tracers (α-pinT), pinic acid and 3-MBTCA, with R > 0.6 and R > 0.8 for hourly and daily data, respectively. The α-pinT to modeled monoterpene SOA ratios are 0.13–0.25, which generally match the ratio of 0.168 ± 0.081 reported in chamber studies. However, since the current model does not treat α-pinene and its SOA explicitly, future modeling studies should include a more detailed treatment of monoterpene emissions and reactions to predict SOA from these important precursors and compare with the ambient precursor-specific SOA-tracers.
A Case Study on Handwritten Indic Script Classification: Benchmarking of the Results at Page, Block, Text-line, and Word Levels

Handwritten script classification is still considered as a challenging research problem in the domain of document image analysis. Although some research attempts have been made by the researchers for solving the challenging issues, a comprehensive solution is yet to be achieved. The case study, undertaken here, analyzes the performances of various state-of-the art handwritten script classification methods for Indian scripts where features, needed for the script classification task, are extracted from the script images at four different granularity levels, i.e., page, block, text line, or word. The results of handwritten script classification at each level have been obtained and compared using eight different feature sets and six different state-of-the-art classifiers. Based on the classification results, an ideal level for performing the handwritten script classification task is suggested among these four classification levels. The results have also been improved by using two feature dimensionality reduction methods. All these experiments are done on two different handwritten Indic script databases, of which one is an in-house developed dataset and the other one is a freely available dataset. Finally, some future research directions that may be undertaken by the researchers as an application of the handwritten Indic script classification problem are also highlighted. The work presented here provides a basic foundation for the construction of a comprehensive handwritten script classification method for official Indian scripts.
Effect of E-Coaching and Learning Styles on the Performance Training Participants

The increasing intensity of the use of technology through distance learning in the Covid-19 era occurred at the training site for the best achievements of participants. Combination research from The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM) as a goal to determine the effect of the performance of supervisory leadership training participants at the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) in Samarinda. This quantitative study collected 197 data from the survey and then processed the data using warp PLS 6, with the aim of researching participant behavior in e-coaching and learning styles on performance. Results show variables of performance expectancy, effort expectancy has a significant positive effect on behavioral intentions in coaching, and the relationship between behavioral intentions in coaching is significantly positive on performance, while the social influence on behavioral intentions in coaching has an insignificant negative effect, learning style on behavioral intentions in coaching has a positive and insignificant effect and learning style on performance has a significant negative effect so that indications of increased behavioral intentions in coaching will reduce the social influence and there is not always a change in learning style, but when there is an increase in performance there will be a change in the learning style of the participants.
Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Different Responsive Patterns to Nitrogen Deficiency in Two Wheat Near-Isogenic Lines Contrasting for Nitrogen Use Efficiency

Simple Summary Nitrogen (N) limitation is the key factor for wheat production worldwide. Therefore, the development of genotypes with improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is a prerequisite for sustainable and productive agriculture. Exploring the molecular mechanisms of low N stress tolerance is significant for breeding wheat cultivars with high NUE. To clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms of enhanced resilience to low N in high-NUE wheat, we performed an RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis. In the current research, two wheat near-isogenic lines (NILs) differing dramatically in NUE were used to measure gene expression differences under different N treatments. There was a dramatic difference between two wheat NILs in response to N deficiency at the transcriptional level, and the classification of identified candidate genes may provide new valuable insights into the resilience mechanism of wheat. Abstract The development of crop cultivars with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under low-N fertilizer inputs is imperative for sustainable agriculture. However, there has been little research on the molecular mechanisms underlying enhanced resilience to low N in high-NUE plants. The comparison of the transcriptional responses of genotypes contrasting for NUE will facilitate an understanding of the key molecular mechanism of wheat resilience to low-N stress. In the current study, the RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technique was employed to investigate the genotypic difference in response to N deficiency between two wheat NILs (1Y, high-NUE, and 1W, low-NUE). In our research, high- and low-NUE wheat NILs showed different patterns of gene expression under N-deficient conditions, and these N-responsive genes were classified into two major classes, including “frontloaded genes” and “relatively upregulated genes”. In total, 103 and 45 genes were identified as frontloaded genes in high-NUE and low-NUE wheat, respectively. In summary, our study might provide potential directions for further understanding the molecular mechanism of high-NUE genotypes adapting to low-N stress.
A 13-parameter model for unsaturated soil based on bounding surface plasticity

A few constitutive models for unsaturated soils have already been proposed, however, many classic models such as the Barcelona basic model can simulate neither complex volumetric soil behaviour (without forgetting its supreme merit of being the first consistently and rigorously formulated model) nor post-peak softening, and most advanced models generally comprise a large number of parameters making them more difficult to be applied to practical situations. In this paper, we present a new model for unsaturated soils based on an existing model developed originally for saturated soils. It comprises a minimum number of constitutive parameters. The extension to unsaturated state is achieved by following a general methodology previously developed in our laboratory. The capacities of this simple model are tested. With only 13 parameters, it can reproduce the basic behaviour of unsaturated soils such as rebound or collapse upon wetting, depending on the stress levels. It can also reproduce post-peak softening and transition from contractant to dilatant volumetric behaviour during undrained shear. Overall, the first tentative of validation gives a good correlation between simulations and experimental data, and shows encouraging signs for future developments.
Potential of Kale and Lettuce Residues as Natural Adsorbents of the Carcinogen Aflatoxin B1 in a Dynamic Gastrointestinal Tract-Simulated Model

Adsorption of the carcinogen aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) onto agro-waste-based materials is a promising alternative over conventional inorganic binders. In the current study, two unmodified adsorbents were eco-friendly prepared from kale and lettuce agro-wastes. A dynamic gastrointestinal tract-simulated model was utilized to evaluate the removal efficiency of the sorptive materials (0.5%, w/w) when added to an AFB1-contaminated diet (100 µg AFB1/kg). Different characterization methodologies were employed to understand the interaction mechanisms between the AFB1 molecule and the biosorbents. Based on adsorption results, the biosorbent prepared from kale was the best; its maximum adsorption capacity was 93.6%, which was significantly higher than that of the lettuce biosorbent (83.7%). Characterization results indicate that different mechanisms may act simultaneously during adsorption. Non-electrostatic (hydrophobic interactions, dipole-dipole interactions, and hydrogen bonding) and electrostatic interactions (ionic attractions) together with the formation of AFB1-chlorophyll complexes appear to be the major influencing factors driving AFB1 biosorption.