Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Teaching Oriental Music using Blended Learning Approach: An Experimental Study

Purpose - The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate the impact of teaching Oriental Music using Blended Learning (BL) approach for the students of senior secondary level in Sri Lanka specifically focusing on their achievement on required competencies of Oriental Music at Ordinary Level. The study analyzes the academic performance of students with detailed comparison of BL environment and traditional learning environment. Authors propose the application of BL approach to teach Oriental Music and study its impact on improvement of students’ competency. The study conducted with the application of a mixed instructional design model of objectivist and constructivist approaches for the design of the blended learning course in a student centred learning environment. Methodology - The study was directed by using true experimental study design with pretest and posttest control groups. BL was applied to the experimental group and the traditional instruction method was applied to control group. 9 schools from Colombo district were randomly selected for the experimental and control groups covering all the three existing school types of Sri Lanka. The study group consisted of 360 students of Grade 10 and Grade 11 who has been studying Oriental Music as a subject for General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level. To analyze the data Descriptive statistics, Paired samples t test, Independent samples t test were utilized. Findings - The findings of the experiment indicated that students who has studied Oriental Music under BL strategy showed a significant improvement in their music academic performances after the intervention. The mean post-test of the experimental group was 71.75 which is significantly higher than the mean control group which was 52.07. The mean difference was 19.68 1.91. Hence, there is a statistically significant increase in the performance of students who studied Oriental Music under blended learning. Thus, it is clearly evident that the blended instruction was effective. Significance - This study indicated a positive platform to mould and cater the entire teaching learning process by introducing BL strategy to Sri Lankan secondary education system and fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing BL to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt blended instructions to teach secondary level students effectively.
Digital humanities and digital social reading

Prominent among the social developments that the web 2.0 has facilitated is digital social reading (DSR): on many platforms there are functionalities for creating book reviews, 'inline' commenting on book texts, online story writing (often in the form of fanfiction), informal book discussions, book vlogs, and more. In this article we argue that DSR offers unique possibilities for research into literature, reading, the impact of reading and literary communication. We also claim that in this context computational tools are especially relevant, making DSR a field particularly suitable for the application of Digital Humanities methods. We draw up an initial categorization of research aspects of DSR and briefly examine literature for each category. We distinguish between studies on DSR that use it as a lens to study wider processes of literary exchange as opposed to studies for which the DSR culture is a phenomenon interesting in its own right. Via seven examples of DSR research we discuss the chosen approaches and their connection to research questions in literary studies.
"WELL-TO-WHEEL" EFFICIENCY FOR ALTERNATIVE FUELS FROM NATURAL GAS OR BIOMASS

The emissions of climate gases from the transport sector and the measures that should be taken to reduce these emissions are debated both in Sweden and Internationally. Alternative fuels from renewable sources, new powertrains, etc. are discussed as possible options. Since there are only few studies available on this issue, it was of interest to carry out a project that would highlight some of these issues. In April 2001, the Swedish National Road Administration, SNRA, published report over a well to wheel efficiency study, which had been carried out by the Swedish consultant company Ecotraffic. The report was published in Swedish. After the report was published, it became clear that there was an international interest for an English version of this report. While the work on the Swedish version of the report was in progress, and after the report was finished, several interesting international reports on the subject were published. Therefore, it was felt that a pure translation of the report without considering the most recent publications would have been somewhat negligent. It was also of interest to make some comparisons with the results from the most interesting studies.
Filtering ground noise from LiDAR returns produces inferior models of forest aboveground biomass in heterogenous landscapes

ABSTRACT Airborne LiDAR has become an essential data source for large-scale, high-resolution modeling of forest aboveground biomass and carbon stocks, enabling predictions with much higher resolution and accuracy than can be achieved using optical imagery alone. Ground noise filtering – that is, excluding returns from LiDAR point clouds based on simple height thresholds – is a common practice meant to improve the `signal’ content of LiDAR returns by preventing ground returns from masking useful information about tree size and condition contained within canopy returns. However, ground returns may be helpful for making accurate aboveground biomass predictions in heterogeneous landscapes that include a patchy mosaic of vegetation heights and land cover types. In this paper, we applied several ground noise filtering thresholds while mapping forest AGB across New York State (USA), a heterogenous landscape composed of both contiguously forested and highly fragmented areas with mixed land cover types. We fit random forest models to predictor sets derived from each filtering intensity threshold and compared model accuracies, paying attention to how changes in accuracy correlated with landscape structure. We observed that removing ground noise via any height threshold systematically biases many of the LiDAR-derived variables used in AGB modeling, with mean correlation (Spearman’s ) between variables increasing from 0.183 to 0.266. We found that that ground noise filtering yields models of forest AGB with lower accuracy than models trained using predictors derived from unfiltered point clouds, with RMSE increasing by up to 2.2 Mg ha-1 statewide. Although we only modeled AGB for forest cover types, models fit to predictors derived from filtered point clouds performed worse as landscape heterogeneity (as measured by patch density and edge density) increased, suggesting ground returns are particularly useful when modeling edge forests. Our results suggest that ground filtering should be a carefully considered decision when mapping forest AGB, particularly when mapping heterogeneous and highly fragmented landscapes, as ground returns are more likely to represent useful `signal’ than extraneous `noise’ in these cases.
Panel: IS journals in which Europeans should publish more

In the past few years, virtual worlds – such as Second Life, World of Warcraft and RuneScape – have demonstrated the potential to be a promising online business model. Millions of paying users around the world now participate in virtual worlds and trade virtual items with each other. However, little empirical research has been conducted into players’ purchase behaviour in virtual worlds. To address this research gap, the current study develops and tests a conceptual model of purchase behaviour in the context of virtual worlds. An online survey was conducted within Second Life (n=250) and SEMPLS (Structural Equation Models by Partial Least Squares) was used to confirm the conceptual model. Among the statistically significant paths found in the conceptual model, effort expectancy, performance expectancy, perceived value, customisation, habit, advancement and enjoyment all have strong impact on virtual world residents’ purchase intention. The study rounds off with a discussion and conclusions, highlighting implications for practice, research limitations and promising areas for
Effect of Working Fluid and Fluid Loading on the Performance of Rotating Heat Pipes

The steady state heat transfer perfonnance of axially rotating heat pipes with methanol, ethanol and water as working fluid was measured for rotational speeds up to 4000 RPM, or centrifugal acceleration up to 150g, and heat transfer rates up to 0.7 kW. The measurements were used to characterize the effect of working fluid and fluid loading on the heat transfer perfonnance of the rotating heat pipes with 1 internal condenser taper and straight adiabatic and evaporator sections. The effect of working fluid was examined for heat pipes where the liquid occupied approximately 19% of the pipe interior volume. In the heat pipes with ethanol and methanol as the working fluid, the thennal resistance of the heat pipes decreased as the heat flux increased before reaching a constant value. However, in the case of heat pipe with water, the thennal resistance increased with the increase in heat flux before appearing to reach a constant value. It was found that the thennal resistance of methanol and ethanol heat pipes were 50% to 80% larger than the thennal resistance of the water heat pipe. The effect of fluid loading was examined for three heat pipes using water as the working fluid where the liquid occupied approximately 6%, 7% and 19% of the pipe interior volume. It was found that the heat pipe with the lowest amount of water failed to operate. In this case, the thennal resistance was dramatically larger than the other heat pipes even at low heat fluxes. The heat pipe with 7% of water operated nonnally and had IV a thennal resistance smaller than the heat pipe with 19% of water. The experimental results were compared to predictions from an existing analytical model for high speed rotating heat pipes that accounts for natural convection heat transfer within the liquid film at the evaporator at high accelerations. The predictions from the model were in reasonable agreement with the experimental results for the heat pipes with water as the working fluid. The model over predicted the thennal resistance for the heat pipes with methanol and ethanol as the working fluids by 50% to 80%.
Mental Health and HIV-related Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Cisgender, Transgender, and Gender Non- Conforming MSM in China

Background The new recognition of sub-groups among gender minorities (i.e transgender and gender non-conforming) who also identify as men who have sex with men (MSM) play a considerable role in new HIV infections in China. However, while research focuses on the prevalence of MSM, it ignores the diversity of gender minorities within the MSM population. Furthermore, information on the mental health and HIV-related risky sexual behavior also requires consideration to understand the prevalence and new rates of infection both of MSM and within these gender minority sub-groups. Methods From September 2017 to December 2017, MSM were recruited in Wuhan, Nanchang, and Changsha cities in China. Participants were asked to fill out a structured self-designed questionnaire to assess depression, perceived social support, resilience, identify concealment, and HIV-related risky sexual behaviors. Results A total of 715 MSM completed the structured questionnaire, the number of gender minorities identifying as MSM were 63 and accounted for 8.8% of the population. Compared with the cisgender MSM population, transgender MSM had a significantly lower likelihood of identity concealment (P = 0.016, 95%CI = 0.16, 5.79), were more likely to have one-night stand/occasional partner in the past six months (AOR = 3.90, 95% CI = 1.17–13.03), have sex after drug use (AOR = 2.84, 95%CI = 1.18–6.79), and engage in commercial sexual behavior in the past six months (AOR = 6.09, 95%CI = 1.003–36.94). In terms of gender non-conforming MSM, the differences were not significant for mental health and HIV-related risky sexual behaviors in comparison to the cisgender MSM population. Conclusions It is critical to create targeted interventions tailored towards the different gender minority identities among the MSM population. Further research is necessary to understand the relationship between gender identity, mental health, and HIV-related risky sexual behaviors.
Evaluation of State Ignition Interlock Programs: Interlock Use Analyses From 28 States, 2006-2011

In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began collaborating on a project to evaluate ignition interlock programs in selected States. The purpose of the evaluation was to provide information and best practices to States for ignition interlock programs. The project was managed by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association and conducted by the Preusser Research Group. Research was conducted to determine the following: (1) How States can increase interlock use among driving while intoxicated (DWI) offenders who are required or eligible to install one. (2) Which changes in ignition interlock programs led to increases in ignition interlock use. (3) Identify the key features of ignition interlock programs. (4) Which key program features were related to higher ignition interlock use rates.
Research Output of Anna University: A Bibliometric Study Based on Scopus Database

The study analyses research output of Anna University (Tamil Nadu) using Scopus database during the period 1988 to 2017 (30 years). Further predominance was given for Type of Source, Chronological growth, Subject wise contribution, Document type preferred, Collaborated Country, Collaborated Institutions, Contributed Journal, Highly contributed author, Keywords Preferred and Language of the paper.A total of 23,883 records have been identified and the same has been analyzed using bibliometric study. There has been steady growth of publications and 50% of articles appeared during the last five years between 2013 and 2017. The publications were doubled once in seven years. The average publication per year works out to 795 papers and nearly 78% of contributions were from Engineering; Computer Science; Materials Science, Physics and Astronomy. Around 17 Countries collaborated and contributed to more than 101 papers. The top three journals which have more publications were, “International Journal of Applied Engineering Research”; “European Journal of Scientific Research” and “Journal of Crystal Growth”.
Response to Reviewer 1

This paper describes the splitting supercell idealized test case used in the 2016 Dynamical Core Model Intercomparison Project (DCMIP2016). These storms are useful testbeds for global atmospheric models because the horizontal scale of convective plumes is O(1km), emphasizing non-hydrostatic dynamics. The test case simulates a supercell on a reduced radius sphere with nominal resolutions ranging from 4km to 0.5km and is based on the work of Klemp et al. (2015). Models are initialized with an atmospheric environment conducive to supercell formation and forced with a small thermal perturbation. 5 A simplified Kessler microphysics scheme is coupled to the dynamical core to represent moist processes. Reference solutions for DCMIP2016 models are presented. Storm evolution is broadly similar between models, although differences in final solution exist. These differences are hypothesized to result from different numerical discretizations, physics-dynamics coupling, and numerical diffusion. Intramodel solutions generally converge as models approach 0.5km resolution. These results can be used as a reference for future dynamical core evaluation, particularly with the development of non-hydrostatic global models 10 intended to be used in convective-permitting and convective-allowing regimes.
MEKANISME CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, MANAJEMEN LABA DAN KINERJA KEUANGAN (Studi Pada Perusahaan Go Public Sektor Manufaktur)

Penelitian ini berjudul “Mekanisme Corporate Governance, Manajemen Laba dan Kinerja Keuangan (Studi Pada Perusahaan Go Public Sektor Manufaktur)”, yang bertujuan untuk menguji secara empirik pengaruh dari variabel-variabel diatas (kepemilikan institusional, kepemilikan manajerial, proporsi dewan komisaris independen, dan ukuran dewan komisaris) terhadap manajemen laba dan kinerja keuangan. Penelitian ini menggunakan data sekunder yang berasal dari laporan keuangan perusahaan manufaktur yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia dan ICMD (International Capital Market Directory) dengan sampel sebanyak 40 perusahaan untuk tahun 2006-2008. Dengan adanya data outlier sebanyak 9 buah maka sampel menjadi 31 buah perusahaan manufaktur. Metode statistik yang digunakan untuk pengujian hipotesis adalah regresi berganda dan regresi sederhana. Berdasarkan hasil pengujian, ditemukan bahwa (1) Kepemilikan institusional berpengaruh negatif dan signifikan terhadap manajemen laba di perusahaan manufaktur, (2) Kepemilikan manajerial berpengaruh negatif namun tidak signifikan terhadap manajemen laba di perusahaan manufaktur, (3) Proporsi dewan komisaris independen berpengaruh negatif namun tidak signifikan terhadap manajemen laba di perusahaan manufaktur, (4) Ukuran dewan komisaris berpengaruh positif namun tidak signifikan terhadap manajemen laba di perusahaan manufaktur, (5) Manajemen laba berpengaruh positif namun tidak signifikan terhadap kinerja keuangan di perusahaan manufaktur.
Paracoccidioidomycosis

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is a systemic mycosis caused by the dimorphic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. Primary pulmonary infection occurs commonly in the first and second decades and usually evolves as a benign, self-limited respiratory infection, although it may pass unnoticed. Reactivation of the primary quiescent lesion may become manifest in adults as a chronic progressive disease of the lungs with or without involvement of virtually any organ.
Sustainability assessment of integrated bio-refineries

Integrated bio-refineries offer a potential for a more sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. However, the sustainability implications of integrated bio-refineries are still poorly understood. Therefore, this work aims to contribute towards a better understanding of the sustainability of these systems. For these purposes, a methodological framework has been developed to assess the sustainability of different 2nd generation feedstocks to produce bio-ethanol, energy, and platform chemicals using bio-chemical or thermo-chemical routes in an integrated bio-refinery.The methodology involves environmental, techno-economic, and social assessment of the bio-refinery supply chain. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used for the environmental assessment. The economic assessment is carried out using life cycle costing (LCC) along side traditional economic indicators such as net present value and payback period. Social issues such as employment provision and health and safety are considered within the social sustainability assessment. The methodology has been applied to two case studies using the bio-chemical and the thermo-chemical conversion routes and four feedstocks: wheat straw, poplar, miscanthus and forest residue.For the conditions assumed in this work and per litre of ethanol produced, the LCA results indicate that the thermo-chemical conversion is more environmentally sustainable than the bio-chemical route for eight out of 11 environmental impacts considered. The LCA results also indicate that the main hot spot in the supply chain for both conversion routes is feedstock cultivation. The thermo-chemical route is economically more sustainable than the bio-chemical because of the lower capital and operating costs. From the social sustainability point of view, the results suggest that provision of employment would be higher in the bio-chemical route but so would the health and safety risks.
Principal surrogates in context of high vaccine efficacy

Abstract Objectives The use of correlates of protection (CoPs) in vaccination trials offers significant advantages as useful clinical endpoint substitutes. Vaccines with very high vaccine efficacy (VE) are documented in the literature (95% or above). Callegaro, A. , and F. Tibaldi. 2019. “Assessing Correlates of Protection in Vaccine Trials: Statistical Solutions in the Context of High Vaccine Efficacy. ” BMC Medical Research Methodology 19: 47 showed that the rare infections observed in the vaccinated groups of these trials poses challenges when applying conventionally-used statistical methods for CoP assessment such as the Prentice criteria and meta-analysis. The objective of this work is to investigate the impact of this problem on another statistical method for the assessment of CoPs called Principal stratification. Methods We perform simulation experiments to investigate the effect of high vaccine efficacy on the performance of the Principal Stratification approach. Results Similarly to the Prentice framework, simulation results show that the power of the Principal Stratification approach decreases when the VE grows. Conclusions It can be challenging to validate principal surrogates (and statistical surrogates) for vaccines with very high vaccine efficacy.
Speed as a risk factor in serious run-off-road crashes: Bayesian case-control analysis with case speed uncertainty

In the United States, the imposition and subsequent repeal of the 55 mph speed limit has led to an energetic debate on the relationship between speed and the risk of being in a (fatal) crash. In addition, research done in the 1960s and 1970s suggested that crash risk is a U-shaped function of speed, with risk increasing as one travels both faster and slower than what is average on a road. This paper describes two case-control analyses of run-off-road crashes, one using data collected in Adelaide, Australia, and the other using data from Minnesota. In both analyses the speeds of the case vehicles were estimated using accident reconstruction techniques while the speeds of the controls were measured for vehicles traveling the crash site under similar conditions. Bayesian relative risk regression was then used to relate speed to crash risk, and uncertainty in the case speeds was accounted for by treating these as additional unknowns with informative priors. Neither dataset supported the existence of a U-shaped relationship, although risk of a serious or fatal run-off-road crash clearly tended to increase as speed increased.