Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Total Interpretive Structural Modelling of Graduate Employability Skills for the Built Environment Sector

Contemporary practices and future projections in the Built Environment (BE) sector highlight an increasing demand on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to produce graduates possessing relevant skills aligned to meet workplace demands. This study aims to analyse the key skills influencing BE graduate employability in the United Kingdom (UK) for the benefit of HEIs. This investigation leverages on a critical review of extant literature and an elicitation of the perceptions of targeted macro, meso, and micro level key stakeholders in the BE sector to identify key employability skills. The Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) technique was used to analyse the contextual interrelationships among the identified skills to develop a hierarchical model that provides HEI with insight for BE curriculum development. Six key employability skillsets hierarchically modelled into four levels were identified as crucial for potential graduates to successfully attract and adapt to contemporary practices in the Built Environment sector. Findings reveal communication and team-working skills as critical, independent skills driving the successful development of the remaining four skillsets. This research extends the literature on employability skills by investigating the interactions of various skills that predominantly predicts graduate employability in the Built Environment sector. The resulting TISM skills model provides hierarchical and logical interdependencies beneficial to assist HEIs to strategically design BE curricular to enhance graduate employability.
Policy issue interdependency and the formation of collaborative networks

1. Environmental problems often span a set of challenges that each may engage different policy actors across different policy domains. These challenges, or policy issues , nonetheless exhibit interdependencies that may constrain the ability of actors to work together towards joint solutions. 2. Still, we have limited knowledge about whether and how policy issue interdependencies actually shape how actors collaborate. 3. Using data derived from two venues for collaborative water governance in the Norrström basin, Sweden, we investigate whether and how policy issues and policy issue interdependencies influence actors' selection of collaborative partners. We test two alternative sets of propositions; one set assumes that partner selection is driven by actors' engagement in policy issues and their interdependencies, while the other set emphasises social positions and actor attributes. 4. Our results show that in one venue, actors' choices of collaborative partner were associated with factors from both sets, but not with policy issue interdependencies specifically. In the other venue, only actor and relational attributes shaped social tie
Inflation Threshold Effects on Growth in Ethiopia: Evidence from Food and Non-food Sectors

Economists have long been interested in examining inflation-growth nexus. Nevertheless, the nature of their relationship and the optimal level of inflation threshold for economic growth have still remained controversial in both theoretical and empirical works. Accordingly, this study investigates the existence of threshold effects of inflation on economic growth in Ethiopia over the period 1975-2018 using a Two-regime Threshold Auto-regressive (TAR) model. The study mainly departs from previous works since it estimates sector-specific inflation threshold level in food and non-food sectors. Our preliminary analyses clearly reveal that inflation in food sector has become more volatile, less-persistent and key contributor to the general inflation as compared to its non-food counterpart. Further, The TAR model results and robustness checks indicate the existence of inflation threshold in a range of 9-10%. In particular, the threshold level for food inflation is 10% and 8% for non-food inflation. In all cases, our results robustly confirm growth-detrimental effects of inflation after the threshold levels. After all, this study suggests the need for considering specific behaviors of food and non-food prices, and implementing appropriate fiscal and monetary policies to bring inflation down to a single-digit level.
Assessment of Changes in Land Use/Land Cover and Land Surface Temperatures and Their Impact on Surface Urban Heat Island Phenomena in the Kathmandu Valley (1988-2018)

More than half of the world’s populations now live in rapidly expanding urban and its surrounding areas. The consequences for Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) dynamics and Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) phenomena are poorly understood for many new cities. We explore this issue and their inter-relationship in the Kathmandu Valley, an area of roughly 694 km2, at decadal intervals using April (summer) Landsat images of 1988, 1998, 2008, and 2018. LULC assessment was made using the Support Vector Machine algorithm. In the Kathmandu Valley, most land is either natural vegetation or agricultural land but in the study period there was a rapid expansion of impervious surfaces in urban areas. Impervious surfaces (IL) grew by 113.44 km2 (16.34% of total area), natural vegetation (VL) by 6.07 km2 (0.87% of total area), resulting in the loss of 118.29 km2 area from agricultural land (17.03% of total area) during 1988–2018. At the same time, the average land surface temperature (LST) increased by nearly 5–7 °C in the city and nearly 3–5 °C at the city boundary. For different LULC classes, the highest mean LST increase during 1988–2018 was 7.11 °C for IL with the lowest being 3.18 °C for VL although there were some fluctuations during this time period. While open land only occupies a small proportion of the landscape, it usually had higher mean LST than all other LULC classes. There was a negative relationship both between LST and Normal Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and LST and Normal Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), respectively, and a positive relationship between LST and Normal Difference Built-up Index (NDBI). The result of an urban–rural gradient analysis showed there was sharp decrease of mean LST from the city center outwards to about 15 kms because the NDVI also sharply increased, especially in 2008 and 2018, which clearly shows a surface urban heat island effect. Further from the city center, around 20–25 kms, mean LST increased due to increased agriculture activity. The population of Kathmandu Valley was 2.88 million in 2016 and if the growth trend continues then it is predicted to reach 3.85 million by 2035. Consequently, to avoid the critical effects of increasing SUHI in Kathmandu it is essential to improve urban planning including the implementation of green city technologies.
Employees’ Motivation for Creating International Business Venture: The Role of Perceived Competence and Job Satisfaction

This research investigates the determinants of entrepreneurial intention among Vietnamese employees, a crucial segment of potential entrepreneurs yet mostly neglected in previous studies. Given the focus on intention to create an international business venture and the working segment, we expand the entrepreneurial event theory by supplementing perceived competence and job satisfaction as determinants of entrepreneurial intention while testing the mediation of perceived feasibility and perceived desirability in such relationships correspondingly. Three focus groups on 27 Vietnamese employees were conducted to explore the specific relevant competences and develop the conceptual model. Afterwards, data from an empirical survey on 567 Vietnamese employees was analysed using a partial least squares structural equation model to test the hypothesised relationships. The empirical results indicate that perceived competences, viz. administrative competence, communication skills, network building competence, and international business expertise have a positive impact on entrepreneurial intention. The relationships between either administrative competence, network building capacity or international business expertise, and entrepreneurial intention are totally mediated by perceived feasibility. The study also reveals a noteworthy finding about the negative direct effect of overall job satisfaction on Anh D. Pham, Men T. Bui, and Dung P. Hoang 110 entrepreneurial intention and the partial mediating role of perceived desirability in this relationship.
Industry 4.0 technologies and manufacturing back-shoring: a European perspective

Over the last two decades, companies have increasingly been re-evaluating their off-shoring strategies and implementing decisions on relocations of second degree (RSD). In some cases, the RSD decision has been implemented through back-shoring. The topic has attracted the attention of several scholars, some of whom have specifically investigated the role of Industry 4.0 technologies in the back-shoring decision-making process. This paper aims to shed new light on the role that Industry 4.0 technologies play as a driver or an enabling factor for companies that are evaluating RSD alternatives. A two-step explorative approach has been used for this research. In the first step, a theoretical approach has been followed by developing a structured literature review based on 115 Scopus-indexed journal articles. The second step of the methodology is based on the empirical evidence of European countries using the UnivAQ manufacturing reshoring dataset. The collected data provides evidence of the growing interest of scholars in this issue; however, attention has mainly been focused on two single technologies, production automation and additive manufacturing. The empirical data offers interesting findings in terms of industry and geographic characterisation.
OIL PALM MALE MEIOSIS PROFILING: FROM FIELD OBSERVATION TO CYTOGENETICS ANALYSIS

Male meiosis is a principal process in microsporogenesis, important for male fertility and gamete viability in higher plants. This division ensures genome stability of sexually reproducing organisms and creates genome variation enabling diversity in a species. We present a structured profiling of male meiosis in the interspecific oil palm hybrid, Elaeis oleifera × Elaeis guineensis (OxG), for an in-depth understanding of the process. In the pollen mother cells (PMC), interaction between the parental genomes was observed in early prophase I, via genomic in situ hybridisation (GISH). At this meiosis I stage, the chromosome pairing revealed 16 complete bivalents, confirming the homologous pairing of each E. guineensis and E. oleifera chromosomes. Interestingly, we found that the E. guineensis and E. oleifera pollens had distinct morphologies, which represents another feature that differentiates the two species. This could also be used as a basis diagnostic tool to evaluate sterility in oil palm interspecific hybrids.
A 31P nuclear magnetic resonance study of the phosphorus species in alkali extracts of soils from long‐term field experiments

SUMMARY The different forms of phosphorus (P) in 0.5 m sodium hydroxide extracts of soils from long-term field experiments at Rothamsted were characterized by 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The extract from an old grassland soil (pH 4.6) from a plot of the Park Grass Continuous Hay Experiment that had received no fertilizer or lime for at least 125 years contained the following forms of P: inorganic orthophosphate (22% of the extracted P), orthophosphate monoesters (49%), orthophosphate diesters (14%), phosphonates (3%), pyrophosphate (4%) and two unidentified forms of P (7%). The soil extract from a Park Grass plot given inorganic phosphate fertilizer (35 kg P ha−1) annually for 121 years contained the same forms of P and, in addition, a small amount of polyphosphate. There was also evidence of an increase in the orthophosphate monoester fraction. Another old grassland soil, of pH 6.1, contained more total and organic P than Park Grass but the extract contained fewer forms of P: inorganic orthophosphate (14% of the extracted P), orthophosphate monoesters (39%), orthophosphate diesters (34%) and an unidentified form (13%). An area of this grassland that had been ploughed up 20 years previously, and kept bare since, contained less organic P. The extract contained less of the phosphate diesters but the more stable monoesters remained relatively unchanged.
Using time domain reflectometry for monitoring mineralization of nitrogen from soil organic matter

The mineralization of nitrogen from soil organic matter is important when one tries to optimize nitrogen fertilization and assess risks of N losses to the environment, but its measurement is laborious and expensive. We have explored the possibilities for monitoring N mineralization directly using time domain reflectometry (TDR). Net N and S mineralization were monitored over a 101‐day period in two layers (0–30 and 30–60 cm) of a loamy sand soil during aerobic incubation in a laboratory experiment. At the same time electrical conductivity of the bulk soil, σa, was measured by TDR. A series of calibration measurements with different amounts of KNO3 at different soil moisture contents was made with the topsoil to calculate the electrical conductivity, σw, of the soil solution from σa and θ. The actual σw was determined from the conductivity of 1:2 soil:water extracts (σ1:2) with a mass balance approach using measured NO3– concentrations, after correction for ions present prior to the addition of KNO3. The average N mineralization rate in the topsoil was small (0.12 mg N kg−1 day−1), and, as expected, very small in the subsoil (0.023 mg N kg−1 day−1). In the top layer NO3– concentrations calculated from σa determined by TDR slightly underestimated measured concentrations in the first 4 weeks, and in the second half of the incubation there was a significant overestimation of measured NO3–. Using the sum of both measured NO3– and SO42– reduced the overestimation. In the subsoil calculated NO3– concentrations strongly and consistently overestimated measured concentrations, although both followed the same trend. As S mineralization in the subsoil was very small, and initial SO42– concentrations were largely taken into account in the calibration relations, SO42– concentrations could not explain the overestimation. The very small NO3– and SO42– concentrations in the B layer, at the lower limit of the concentrations used in the calibrations, are a possible explanation for the discrepancies. A separate calibration for the subsoil could also be required to improve estimates of NO3– concentrations.
Are Safe Sleep Practice Recommendations For Infants Being Applied Among Caregivers?

Background Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is defined as the sudden unexpected death of an infant, even after investigations and autopsy. SIDS is related to many factors, such as the baby’s position and objects in the crib. Adherence to safe sleep recommendations in Saudi Arabia is unclear. This study aims to assess caregivers’ implementation of safe sleep practices and if they received any safe sleep education through health care workers. Methods This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Inclusion criteria included all infants below the age of one year. Exclusion criteria included infants who were born premature, used ventilation, had a tracheostomy, any anomaly in the upper airway, or underwent spine surgery. A semi-structured questionnaire was used. Data were collected from mothers who had infants visiting the outpatient department of King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An electronic survey was also created and published on a social platform. Statistical analysis was conducted with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 26 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY). Results Among 506 participants, only 22.5% were found to receive education about safe practices from health care providers. Fortunately, most of the infants (63.2%) were found to sleep in a supine position most of the nights. Adherent caregivers to placing the child in a designated baby bed and in a supine position most nights represented 44.86% of the sample. However, when asked about placing any of the following objects in the bed (pillows, blankets, soft toys, hard toys, and electric wires), the percentage of adherence dropped down to only 1.58%. Conclusion There was an obvious non-adherence among caregivers and a possible lack of knowledge of safe sleep recommendations for infants. This highlights the need for optimal education by health care workers and the rule of media and campaigns is obvious and essential to improving their practices and, hopefully, decreasing the risk of SIDS.
The Association of Factor V Leiden Mutation With Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Using Activated Protein C Resistance Test (Case-Control Study)

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss is considered as a major devastating obstetric and gynecological health problem. Many clinicians define RPL as three or more consecutive pregnancies ending spontaneously before the 20th week of gestation. Aim of the Work: to investigate prevalence of FVL mutation in women with RPL using, a less time and money consuming test, APCR test. Patients and Methods: We compared the prevalence of FVL among 83 patients with history of 3 or more first tri-mesteric pregnancy losses (the case group) with an equal number of women with no history of RPL (the control group), recruited from the RPL outpatient clinic at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital, during the period between April 2018 till June 2019. Results: Abnormal APCR test values were found in a total of 22 women in our study, 7 women in the control group (8.4%) and 15 in the case group (18.07%) with no statistically significant differences. However, in further assessment of case group, two patients in the case group with abnormal APC value, suffered from DVT episodes, representing 13.3% of 15 patient with abnormal APCR. The P value was statistically significant, which mean that the present of APCR might increase the risk for DVT Conclusion: Isolated FVL is unlikely to be an important cause for RPL as no statistically significant difference is found between the case and control groups.
Pure and Binary Adsorption of Methane and Nitrogen by Silicalite

Methane is the most important non-CO2 greenhouse gas (GHG) responsible for global warming with more than 10 % of total GHG emissions. The greenhouse warming potential (GWP) of this gas is much higher than carbon dioxide. Therefore, any reduction in methane emissions is really important in atmosphere reconstruction. Nitrogen is needed to be removed from landfill gas to obtain low grade natural gas as a renewable source of energy from garbage, but the separation is really difficult. Adsorption was considered as a possibility for this separation, and silicalite was studied as the adsorbent. The adsorption behavior of methane and nitrogen with this adsorbent was studied by concentration pulse chromatography and constant volume techniques. Ideal separation factors were obtained from the experimental pure adsorption isotherms by using the temperature independent Toth isotherm model. Mixture adsorption isotherms for the binary system of methane and nitrogen at (40, 70, and 100) °C at 1 bar total pressure were de.
Separation and determination of ultratrace rhenium quantities in molybdenum matrix

ABSTRACT The production of very pure molybdenum, free of Re even at ultratrace levels, is extremely important in meeting target purity specifications during the production of 99Mo for medical applications. Here we propose two methods for separating ultratrace levels of Re from a bulk Mo matrix using either solvent extraction or extraction chromatography, combined with inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection. Re is extracted (D > 70) from solutions in sulfuric acid as a complex with tri-n-butyl phosphate. Scrubbing and washing steps result in total decontamination factors for Mo up to 1,700 for solvent extraction and 3,500 for extraction chromatography. Re is stripped into a 3 M NH4OH matrix and analyzed by ICP-MS. Detection (LD ) and quantification (LQ ) limits were optimized by matrix-matching to allow detection of Re in strip solutions at levels of LD = 0.1 ng Re/g-Mo and LQ = 0.3 ng Re/g-Mo in Mo powder samples. By employing these two extraction methods, excellent recoveries of Re from bulk Mo are achieved, and the LQ is improved by a factor of 5 × 104.
Prescription and over-the-counter drug misuse among female students at a Saudi university

ABSTRACT Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drug misuse is understudied among Arab youth. We estimated the prevalence, correlates and reasons for misusing these drugs among female King Saud University students. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2019, using self-administered questionnaires inquiring about lifetime, past-year, and past-month misuse, reasons for misuse and prescription drugs sources. Results: Five-hundred and nineteen students (91.53%) responded. Lifetime OTC drug misuse was 29.09% (95% CI = 25.19%, 33.00%), while past-year and past-month misuse were 22.35% (95% CI = 18.77%, 25.93%) and 11.95% (95% CI = 9.16%, 14.74%), respectively. Lifetime prescription drug misuse was 62.24% (95% CI = 58.06%, 66.41%), whereas past-year and past-month misuse were 52.60% (95% CI = 48.31%, 56.90%) and 34.68% (95% CI = 30.59%, 38.78%), respectively. Tramadol was most commonly misused. Prescription drugs were obtained from family members. Health-college students had 13% lower odds for misusing OTC drugs (AOR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.50, 1.50), and 21% lower odds for misusing prescription drugs (AOR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.54, 1.15), compared to non-health college students. Conclusions: Prescription drug misuse is high among these female students. Education of students and their families about the harms of misusing these drugs is warranted.
Atmospheric pressure He-air plasma jet: Breakdown process and propagation phenomenon

In this paper He-discharge (plasma jet/bullet) in atmospheric pressure air and its progression phenomenon has been studied experimentally using ICCD camera, optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and calibrated dielectric probe measurements. The repetitive nanosecond pulse has applied to a plasma pencil to generate discharge in the helium gas channel. The discharge propagation speed was measured from the ICCD images. The axial electric field distribution in the plasma jet is inferred from the optical emission spectroscopic data and from the probe measurement. The correlation between the jet velocities, jet length with the pulse duration is established. It shows that the plasma jet is not isolated from the input voltage along its propagation path. The discharge propagation speed, the electron density and the local and average electric field distribution along the plasma jet axis predicted from the experimental results are in good agreement with the data predicted by numerical simulation of the streamer propagation presented in different literatures. The ionization phenomenon of the discharge predicts the key ionization parameters, such as speed, peak electric field in the front, and electron density. The maximum local electric field measured by OES is 95 kV/cm at 1.3 cm of the jet axis, and average EF measured by probe is 24 kV/cm at the same place of the jet. The average and local electron density estimated are in the order of 1011 cm-3 and it reaches to the maximum of 1012 cm-3.