Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Facebook in tertiary education: The impact of social media in e-Learning

The present study provides insights on the impact of using Facebook in e-learning higher education postgraduate programs. More specifically, the study (1) presents the status quo of Facebook in higher education, (2) explores the nature of Facebook in e-learning, and (3) investigates the effects of Facebook on learning community, focusing on their viewpoints. The findings reveal that the majority of the students think favorably of Facebook groups as they conveniently supplement Learning Management Systems (LMS). The survey also indicates that there was an interactive learning element to the use of Facebook that made it more appealing than their university’s Course Management System (CMS) to use during the course.
Integration of GPS and InSAR Data for Resolving 3‐Dimensional Crustal Deformation

We develop an algorithm to integrate GPS and InSAR data for a 3‐dimensional crustal deformation field at the Earth's surface. In the algorithm discrete GPS data points are interpolated to obtain a 3‐dimensional continuous velocity field, which is then combined with the InSAR line‐of‐sight (LOS) velocity data pixel by pixel using the least‐squares method. Advantages of our method over previous ones are that: 1) The GPS data points are optimally interpolated by balancing a trade‐off between spatial resolution and solution stability. 2) A new algorithm is developed to estimate realistic uncertainties for the interpolated GPS velocities, to be used as weights for GPS data in GPS‐InSAR combination. 3) Realistic uncertainties for the InSAR LOS rate data are estimated and used as weights for InSAR data in GPS‐InSAR combination. 4) The ramps and/or offsets of the InSAR data are globally estimated for all the images to minimize data misfit, particularly at regions where the data overlaps. Application of this method to real data from southern California shows its capability of successfully restoring 3‐dimensional continuous deformation field from spatially limited GPS and dimensionally limited InSAR data. The deformation field reveals water withdrawal induced subsidence and drought caused uplift at various regions in southern California.
Comparing middle grade students’ oral and written arguments

ABSTRACT Previous research making claims about students’ proving capabilities usually only explored one modality (e.g. oral or written arguments). This study compares the written and oral representations of eighth-grade students’ mathematical arguments to determine whether the two modalities portray similar understandings. We replicate Stylianides’ (2019) analysis using a different temporal sequencing of oral and written arguments and a larger sample size. Using an existing proof scoring scheme, we found a statistically significant difference between students’ written and oral representations of proof. Students often struggled to write arguments they could otherwise represent orally, and we found no evidence that students’ written arguments were more sophisticated than their oral arguments. We also share two illustrative cases representing the disparity between students’ written and oral arguments. The findings of this study suggest that students’ proving capabilities might not be as dire as previous research implies.
Tissue Culture to Assess Bacterial Enteropathogenicity

It is quite clear nowadays that the pathogenesis of infectious disease, although determined by pathogenic features of their causative agents, cannot be fully comprehended without structural (morphologic) analysis of immediate interaction between these agents and cells, tissues, and defense systems of the host. In diseases caused by agents adapted to certain cellular targets, the pathogenesis is, in addition, influenced by histophysiologic features of these targets wich are utilized or distorted or both by the pathogen.
Profiles of thyroid hormones and mRNA expression for thyroid stimulating hormone in Japanese eel during downstream migration

To understand the roles of thyroid hormones in downstream migration of anguillid eels, we examined the profiles of serum thyroid hormones (thyroxine, T4 and triiodothyronine, T3) and thyroid stimulating hormone β-subunit (TSHβ) mRNA expression in relation to habitat use, silvering, and seasonal changes. Female Japanese eels, Anguillajaponica, were collected in the brackish Hamana Lake and its freshwater rivers from July to December. The habitat use history of the eels was determined by otolith analysis of strontium and calcium concentrations. Thyroid hormone levels were measured by enzyme immunoassay and expression levels of TSHβ mRNA were determined by real-time quantitative PCR analysis. There were no consistent differ- ences in the thyroid hormones or TSHβ expression levels between different habitats or seasonality. In addition, there were no or weak significant differences in thyroid hormones levels and TSHβ mRNA expression levels between migrant and other eels, although thyroid hormones have been shown to regulate endocrine control of downstream migratory behavior in some fishes. These findings suggest that thyroid hormones have play a minor role in downstream migration of anguillid eels.
Testing the validity of the tourism-led growth hypothesis under long-range dependence

ABSTRACT Traditionally, the relationship between tourism and economic growth has been studied using methods based on stationary or nonstationary models. In this paper, we explore the validity of the tourism-led growth hypothesis, applying fractional cointegration techniques and comparing the results with those obtained in previous studies. To do this, we study the long-run relationship between GDP and tourism series, using a two-step strategy. First, we apply fractional cointegration methods and then we test the null hypothesis of no cointegration against alternatives which are fractionally cointegrated. For the empirical analysis, we use seasonally adjusted quarterly data for GDP and tourist arrivals for seven European countries from 1990 to 2018. In the empirical exercise, evidence of cointegration is found only in very restricted cases. Therefore, the validity of the TLGH is less clear-cut when this methodology is applied.
A Review of Experiments on Nematode Control with Ethoprop (Prophos); Phenamiphos and Carbofuran in French-Speaking West Africa

The new grandular nematicides phenamiphos, ethoprop and carbofuran have been evaluated in a series of experiments in West Africa. Recommendations are that phenamiphos (3g a. i.), ethoprop (4.5g a. i.) and carbofuran (3g a. i. except in Cameroon) should be applied to 1m around each plant 3 times per yr at intervals determined by the distribution of rainfall. Granular nematicides have been found to be more effective than DBCP and to improve production; however, the main disadvantage is that the new products are very expensive.
Combining Climate Change Mitigation Scenarios with Current Forest Owner Behavior: A Scenario Study from a Region in Southern Sweden

This study investigates the need for change of current forest management approaches in a southern Swedish region within the context of future climate change mitigation through empirically derived projections, rather than forest management according to silvicultural guidelines. Scenarios indicate that climate change mitigation will increase global wood demand. This might call for adjustments of well-established management approaches. This study investigates to what extent increasing wood demands in three climate change mitigation scenarios can be satisfied with current forest management approaches of different intensities in a southern Swedish region. Forest management practices in Kronoberg County were mapped through interviews, statistics, and desk research and were translated into five different management strategies with different intensities regulating management at the property level. The consequences of current practices, as well as their intensification, were analyzed with the Heureka Planwise forest planning system in combination with a specially developed forest owner decision simulator. Projections were done over a 100-year period under three climate change mitigation scenarios developed with the Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIUM). Current management practices could meet scenario demands during the first 20 years. This was followed by a shortage of wood during two periods in all scenarios unless rotations were reduced. In a longer timeframe, the wood demands were projected to be easily satisfied in the less ambitious climate change mitigation scenarios. In contrast, the demand in the ambitious mitigation scenario could not be met with current management practices, not even if all owners managed their production forests at the intensive extreme of current management approaches. The climate change mitigation scenarios provide very different trajectories with respect to future drivers of forest management. Our results indicate that with less ambitious mitigation efforts, the relatively intensive practices in the study region can be softened while ambitious mitigation might push for further intensification.
Nonlexical “Moans”: Response Cries in Board Game Interactions

ABSTRACT This article examines nonlexical vocalizations in board game interactions, focusing on “moans. ” Moans are prolonged, voiced, response cries. Moans react to game events where the player has suffered in some way. Despite the complaint-relevant nature of moans, game actions are never withdrawn in response to a moan, Moans are treated as laughable, while lexical complaints invoke arguments and apologies. This article suggests that moans are a manifestation of managing Bateson’s play paradox in that they denote suffering but also willingness to continue play and a validation of the prior event. Moans are suggested to be a contextualization cue for “this is play. ” Given the relative unconventionality of the form of moans, these tokens are suggested as evidence that lack of conventionalization may be a members resource rather than a problem. The article analyzes a corpus of 34 hours of video-recorded board game play (169 tokens) in English (Canadian, American, and British).
Random drift : chance and explanation in evolutionary biology

The central claim for which I argue in this dissertation is that there are important phenomena that occur by random drift that evolutionary biologists explain using a strategy I term “process explanation. ” This claim puts me at odds with an influential view about the nature of explanation that I term “Hempelianism. ” Hempelianism is the view that the scientific explanation of a particular event E requires (a) showing that E was to be expected, or indicating the degree to which it would have been rational to expect E’s occurrence; and (b) laws of nature. My central claim entails that both (a) and (b) are false. A process explanation consists of a narrative describing events causally relevant to the event to be explained. These narratives need not contain laws, show that the event to explained ought to have been expected, or indicate the degree to which it would have been rational to expect the event. My position about random drift also puts me at odds with evolutionists who, influenced by Hempelianism, claim that only natural selection can explain evolution. In my argument, I articulate the strategy of process explanation and defend it against Hempelian critics; describe a mechanism of random drift known as “indiscriminate
Cross-Domain Joint Dictionary Learning for ECG Reconstruction from PPG

An emerging research direction considers the inverse problem of inferring electrocardiogram (ECG) from photoplethysmogram (PPG) to bring about the synergy between the easy measurability of PPG and the rich clinical knowledge of ECG to facilitate preventive healthcare. Previous reconstruction using a universal basis has limited accuracy due to the lack of rich representative power. This paper proposes a cross-domain joint dictionary learning (XDJDL) framework to maximize the expressive power for the two cross-domain signals. Building on K-SVD technique, XDJDL optimizes simultaneously the PPG and ECG signal representations and the transform between them, enabling the joint learning of a pair of signal dictionaries with a transform to characterize the relation between their sparse codes. The proposed model is evaluated with 34,000+ ECG/PPG cycle pairs containing a variety of ECG morphologies and cardiovascular diseases. Experimental results validate the accuracy and the generality of the proposed algorithm, suggesting an encouraging potential for disease screening using PPG measurement based on the proactive learned PPG-ECG relationship.
Corticolous bryophytes in microphyll fern forests of south-east Queensland: distribution on Antarctic beech (Nothofagus moorei).

Fine-scale variation in corticolous bryophyte communities was examined on the lower trunk of Antarctic beech (Nothofagus moorei) trees within microphyll fern forests of south-east Queensland. Analysis of the variation revealed that the composition and structure of the community altered with both the height above ground level and the direction of exposure. Patterns of distribution were thought to primarily reflect changes in the moisture availability on and around the basal trunk of Nothofagus moorei trees and the degree of desiccation tolerance exhibited by the various taxa.
How the Show Goes On: Using the Aesthetic Experience of Collective Performance to Adapt while Coordinating

Coordinating in action groups consists of continuously adapting behaviors in response to fluctuating conditions, ideally with limited disruption to a group’s collective performance. Through an 18-month ethnography of how members of a community choir maintained beautiful, ongoing performance, I explored how they continuously adapted their coordinating, starting when they felt that their collective performance was fragmented or falling apart. The process model I developed shows that this aesthetic experience—the sense of fragmentation based on inputs from the bodily senses—leads to emotional triggering, meaning group members’ emotions prompt changes in their attention and behavior. They then distribute their attention in new ways, increasing their focus on both global qualities of their ongoing performance (in this context, the musical score and conductor) and local qualities (singers’ contributions). My findings suggest that by changing what aspects of a situation compose their immediate experience, action group members can adapt their coordinating behaviors by changing their heed: the behavior that demonstrates their attentiveness and awareness. The intertwining of attention and emotions helps explain how groups move between heedless and heedful interrelating over time, leading to an aesthetic experience of collective performance as being whole or coherent. My research shows that embodied forms of cognition (what we know from direct experience of an environment) complement accounts of how representational forms of knowledge (what we know from symbols, concepts, or ideas) facilitate real-time adaptation in groups. These insights have implications for a range of organizations engaged in complex action group work.
Fusing optical and synthetic aperture radar images based on shearlet transform to improve urban impervious surface extraction

Abstract In order to extract urban impervious surfaces (ISs) accurately, optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images fusion was recognized as one promising method. However, most fusion methods currently focus on feature-level and decision-level fusions. There are only a few studies exploring the performance of the fused image at the pixel level for IS extraction. Therefore, we introduced the shearlet transform to fuse Landsat-8 and TerraSAR images and evaluated the fused image by comparing it to those obtained using conventional image fusion methods. The IS from the fused images using the support vector machine algorithm is extracted and compared. Experimental results indicate some interesting findings. First, the shearlet transform can fully retain the spectral information from the optical image and the spatial information from the SAR image. Second, the IS extraction from the fused image with the shearlet transform achieved the highest accuracy with an overall accuracy of 95.1% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.8792, which confirmed the proposed method is applicable to IS extraction. We can conclude that an effective pixel-level fusion algorithm for optical and SAR images can significantly improve the extraction accuracy of urban IS. Our research could provide an innovative fusion technique and also could serve as a meaningful reference for further applications of optical and SAR imagery. In addition, the potential of SAR data in IS extraction should be further investigated.
Trends in Antimicrobial Resistance of Bacterial Isolates Circulating in Sewage Waters of Aligarh Region over a Period of 14 Years

Antibacterial-resistant pathogens are serious threat worldwide. The presence of drug-resistant bacteria in environmental samples has important implications for people living in the area who are reliant on public water and sanitation facilities. Detection of faecal indicator bacteria in water provides a very sensitive method of quality assessment. This study was designed to compare the prevalence of gram-negative bacteria circulating in sewer lines of Aligarh region at an interval of every four to five years. This study was conducted in the department of Microbiology, JN Medical College and Hospital over a period of fourteen years. Trends of antimicrobial susceptibility were assessed over this period. Isolates resistant to any of the 3rd generation cephalosporins were also evaluated for the presence of extended spectrum β-lactamases, Amp-C and metallo-β-lactamases. Escherichia coli was the commonest coliform isolated throughout the 14-year study period. Polymicrobial growth was more common in 2005 and 2013. Increase in the antimicrobial resistance was noted among the bacterial strains isolated in the last eight years of study. Isolation of ESBL and Amp-C producing bacterial isolates in sewage waters was the most alarming finding. Circulation of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in the environment is an alarming indicator of the rampant use of antibiotics. It is suggested that periodic surveys should be done to study the prevalence and susceptibility pattern of environmental water samples.
Hostel Experience of Tourists Visiting Göreme (Cappadocia) Region

Experience Hostels Traveller Göreme Hostel experience Abstract The objective of the present research is to understand and examine hostel experiences of travellers visiting hostels operating in Göreme province of Cappadocia region. Within the context of usergenerated content, data were collected between 27 February and 6 March 2019 from online reviews and comments at hostelworld.com online platform and content analysis has been utilized to examine data. Results indicated differences as well as commonalities prior researches in terms of hostel experiences’ characteristics. The findings show that hostel experiences are multifaceted and heterogeneous based on factors of cleanliness and facilities, location, atmosphere, security, staff/owner, price/value for money, social atmosphere, food experience, authentic experience and memorable experience. The presence of food, authentic and memorable experiences have emerged as distinct factors accelerating the quality of hostel experiences that travellers gain. Further implications for hostel managers and recommendations for future researches are also presented.
Ranolazine in Preventing Ventricular Fibrillation During Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients with Low Ejection Fraction: A Single-Centre Retrospective Study

Objectives: Aortic valve replacement (AVR) is often associated with intraoperative ventricular fibrillation (VF) complicating early postoperative outcomes. Ca2+ triggering mechanisms induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury have been implicated as possible causes of this arrhythmia, however, the exact mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of late sodium current inhibition by ranolazine (RAN) in preventing VF in these patients. Methods: We retrospectively examined 53 patients with aortic stenosis or insufficiency, receiving either mechanical or bioprosthetic AVR in the last two years. Of these, 29 (19 M/10 F, age 66.4 ± 11.3 y) were under treatment with RAN 500 mg × 2 daily (RAN group) and 24 (17 M/7 F, age 62.8 ± 17 y) had not been treated with RAN (control group). Internal defibrillation was usually applied at consecutively escalating energy levels to reset sinus rhythm in patients manifesting VF. Results: At the time of aortic unclamping, 18 out of 29 patients (62%) in the control group and 6 out of 24 patients (25%) in the RAN group developed VF (P=0.007, χ2 test). Left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) was reduced in both groups (≤40%) with no significant between group differences (P=0.51). Cross-clamp time was 48.3 ± 9.6 min in the control group and 51.7 ± 8.8 min in the RAN group (P=0.09). QTc intervals measured postoperatively in the ICU after ECG stabilization, were within upper normal limits (430.3 ± 23.6 vs. 413.5 ± 20.2 ms, in control and RAN group, respectively; P= 0.008). The Tpeak-Tend interval was significantly reduced in RAN vs controls (p<0.001). Conclusion: Patients with low EF receiving RAN before AVR surgery, showed a 37% lower incidence of VF compared to the control group. This is possibly associated to the RAN’s ability to suppress Ca2+ overload-induced early afterdepolarizations upon reperfusion. Larger studies are required to confirm the antiarrhythmic efficacy of RAN as an alternative to lidocaine.
EVALUATION OF POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS IN ELDERLY PATIENTS UNDERGOING PLASTIC SURGERY ACCORDING TO THE MODIFED CLAVIEN-DINDO CLASSIFICATION

Aim: Although age is not encountered as a contraindication for surgery, performing the surgical procedures in shortest time possible is essential in order to avoid complications and facilitate management of the coexisting comorbidities. The aim of this study is to determine the complication rates and to evaluate the risk factors according to the modified Clavien Dindo classification in elderly patients over 80 years of age who received plastic and reconstructive surgery.