Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Urban Trips? Structural Interpretive Model of Online Shopping and Passengers Trips during the Pandemic

Changing people’s shopping behavior from face-to-face to online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic led to reduced shopping trips, and this decrease directly affects traffic congestion and air pollution. Identifying the factors influencing the increase of online shopping behavior during the pandemic can be helpful for policymakers in the post-COVID-19 era. This study aims to discover the effect of factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic and demographic characteristics on shopping attitude and, consequently, on shopping trips. Based on the interviews of ten experts, factors associated with COVID-19 and demographic characteristics are selected as influential factors on shopping attitude and shopping trips. For pairwise comparisons between these factors, a web-based questionnaire was designed and given to thirty experts. The relationship between all factors is examined using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Microscopic–Macroscopic (MICMAC) analysis. In addition, to prioritize factors, the IAHP model is employed. Based on the results, five levels of influential factors affect shopping attitude, which affects shopping trips: level 1, age and gender; level 2, income and education; level 3, the household size and the COVID-19 awareness; level 4, COVID-19 attitude and COVID-19 practice; and level 5, norm subject and shopping personal control.
Italian Children’s Well-Being after Lockdown: Predictors of Psychopathological Symptoms in Times of COVID-19

The first Italian lockdown imposed to fight the spread of COVID-19 caused important disruptions in families’ everyday lives. The main aim of this research was to investigate the predictors of psychopathology in children aged 5–10 years, immediately after the national 2-month lockdown. A total of 158 Italian parents (148 mothers, 10 fathers, mean age = 41 years) were recruited and asked to complete an online research concerning their 158 children (76 boys, mean age = 7.4 years). Parents completed questionnaires on parent–child conflict, resilience, temperament, behavior, and previous adverse childhood experiences. Hierarchical regressions showed that children’s psychopathology was predicted by low child resilience, high novelty seeking and harm avoidance, adverse experiences, and high flooding levels. Moreover, girls exposed to adverse experiences appeared more vulnerable to psychopathology. The recruitment of a convenience sample, the small sample size, and the cross-sectional design of our study limit the generalizability and interpretation of the present findings. Nonetheless, this research extends our knowledge of children’s functioning in such an exceptional period. Shedding light on predictors of children’s psychopathology following prolonged quarantine can indeed guide effective psychological interventions now and in future similar situations.
Insight into the Antibacterial Activity of Selected Metal Nanoparticles and Alterations within the Antioxidant Defence System in Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus epidermidis

The antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles (NPs) is a desirable feature of various products but can become problematic when NPs are released into different ecosystems, potentially endangering living microorganisms. Although there is an abundance of advanced studies on the toxicity and biological activity of NPs on microorganisms, the information regarding their detailed interactions with microbial cells and the induction of oxidative stress remains incomplete. Therefore, this work aimed to develop accurate oxidation stress profiles of Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus epidermidis strains treated with commercial Ag-NPs, Cu-NPs, ZnO-NPs and TiO2-NPs. The methodology used included the following determinations: toxicological parameters, reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant enzymes and dehydrogenases, reduced glutathione, oxidatively modified proteins and lipid peroxidation. The toxicological studies revealed that E. coli was most sensitive to NPs than B. cereus and S. epidermidis. Moreover, NPs induced the generation of specific ROS in bacterial cells, causing an increase in their concentration, which further resulted in alterations in the activity of the antioxidant defence system and protein oxidation. Significant changes in dehydrogenases activity and elevated lipid peroxidation indicated a negative effect of NPs on bacterial outer layers and respiratory activity. In general, NPs were characterised by very specific nano-bio effects, depending on their physicochemical properties and the species of microorganism.
SHORT PULSE LASERS

Abstract : The feasibility of obtaining Laser operation by exciting ruby crystals with short-duration, high intensity pulses of light obtained from an arc source is examined. In addition, the fabrication, operation, and instrumentation of a standard-type, long-pulse Laser was undertaken. The latter object was included to allow a broader investigation into the physics of Laser problems and to serve as a basis for comparison of short-pulse results. Underlying these experimental purposes is the basic interest, namely, that the Laser is characterized by the unique features of spatial and temporal coherence of the output, giving a light source having a single wavelength output and properties similar to radio frequency generators but at a much higher frequency.
Experimental Results of Underwater Acoustic Communication with Nonlinear Frequency Modulation Waveform

In this paper, we propose underwater acoustic (UWA) communications using a generalized sinusoidal frequency modulation (GSFM) waveform, which has a distinct ambiguity function (AF) and correlation function characteristic. For these reasons, it is more robust in multipath channels than the conventional chirp spread spectrum (CSS) with a linear frequency modulation (LFM) waveform. Four types of GSFM waveforms that are orthogonal to each other are applied for each symbol in the proposed method. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, we compared the performances of the proposed method and conventional method by conducting diverse experiments: simulations, lake trials and sea trials. In the simulation results, the proposed method shows better performance than the conventional method. The lake trial was conducted with a distance of 300~400 m between the transmitter and receiver. As a result of the experiment, the average bit error rate (BER) of the proposed method is 3.52×10−2 and that of the conventional method is 3.52×10−1, which shows that the proposed method is superior to the conventional method. The sea trial was conducted at a distance of approximately 20 km between the transmitter and receiver at a depth of 1500 m, and the receiver was composed of 16 vertical line arrays (VLAs) with a hydrophone. The proposed method had a BER of 0.3×10−2 in one channel and was error free in the other.
Association between Hepatic Steatosis and Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children and Adolescents with Obesity

Background: Owing to the increasing rate of pediatric obesity, its complications such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have become prevalent already in childhood. We aimed to assess the relationship between these two diseases in a cohort of children with obesity. Methods: We enrolled 153 children with obesity (mean age 10.5 ± 2.66, mean BMI 30.9 ± 5.1) showing OSA. Subjects underwent a laboratory evaluation, a cardio-respiratory polysomnography (PSG), and a liver ultrasound. Results: All subjects had a clinical diagnosis of OSA based on the AHI > 1/h (mean AHI 8.0 ± 5.9; range 2.21–19.0). Of these, 69 showed hepatic steatosis (62.3% as mild, 20.3% as moderate, and 17.4% as severe degree). A strong association between ALT and apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) was observed (p = 0.0003). This association was not confirmed after adjusting for hepatic steatosis (p = 0.53). By subdividing our population according to the presence/absence of steatosis, this association was found only in the steatosis group (p = 0.009). As the severity of steatosis increased, the significance of its association with AHI compared to the absence of steatosis became progressively stronger (all p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Hepatic steatosis seems to drive the association between OSA and ALT levels, suggesting a potential pathogenic role of OSA in NAFLD.
Characteristics of Children Likely to Have Spontaneous Resolution of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Results from the Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT)

Objective: To evaluate if cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) calculated sleep quality (SQI) may have a role in identifying children that may benefit from other intervention than early adenotonsillectomy (eAT) in management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods: A secondary analysis of electrocardiogram-signals (ECG) and oxygen saturation-data (SpO2) collected during polysomnography-studies in the prospective multicenter Childhood Adenotonsillectomy Trial (CHAT) to calculate CPC-SQI and apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was executed. In the CHAT, children 5–9 years with OSA without prolonged oxyhemoglobin desaturations were randomly assigned to adenotonsillectomy (eAT) or watchful waiting with supportive care (WWSC). The primary outcomes were to document change in attention and executive function evaluated with the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY). In our analysis, children in the WWSC-group with spontaneous resolution of OSA (AHIObstructive < 1.0) and high-sleep quality (SQI ≥ 75) after 7-months were compared with children that showed residual OSA. Results: Of the 227 children randomized to WWSC, 203 children had available data at both baseline and 7-month follow-up. The group that showed resolution of OSA at month 7 (n = 43, 21%) were significantly more likely to have high baseline SQI 79.96 [CI95% 75.05, 84.86] vs. 72.44 [CI95% 69.50, 75.39], p = 0.005, mild OSA AHIObstructive 4.01 [CI95% 2.34, 5.68] vs. 6.52 [CI95% 5.47, 7.57], p= 0.005, higher NEPSY-attention-executive function score 106.22 [CI95% 101.67, 110.77] vs. 101.14 [CI95% 98.58, 103.72], p = 0.038 and better quality of life according to parents 83.74 [CI95% 78.95, 88.54] vs. 77.51 [74.49, 80.53], p = 0.015. The groups did not differ when clinically evaluated by Mallampati score, Friedman palate position or sleep related questionnaires. Conclusions: Children that showed resolution of OSA were more likely to have high-SQI and mild OSA, be healthy-weight and have better attention and executive function and quality of life at baseline. As this simple method to evaluate sleep quality and OSA is based on analyzing signals that are simple to collect, the method is practical for sleep-testing, over multiple nights and on multiple occasions. This method may assist physicians and parents to determine the most appropriate therapy for their child as some children may benefit from WWSC rather than interventions. If the parameters can be used to plan care a priori, this would provide a fundamental shift in how childhood OSA is diagnosed and managed.
Upregulation of antioxidant nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 and its dependent genes associated with enhancing renal ischemic preconditioning renoprotection using levosimendan and cilostazol in an ischemia/reperfusion rat model

Introduction Ischemic preconditioning (Ipre) provides protection against renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury with its associated remote organ damage. This study examined the enhancing protective effect of Ipre with levosimendan or cilostazol in I/R-induced kidney and lung injury in a rat model. Material and methods Rats were divided into: sham-operated, I/R control, Ipre control, I/R + cilostazol or levosimendan and Ipre + cilostazol or levosimendan. Drugs were given 30 min before left renal I/R or 4 cycles of Ipre just before renal ischemia. Results The Ipre combined with the implemented drugs enhanced physiological antioxidant defense genes including renal nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its dependent genes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NADPH-quinone oxidoreductase-1 (NQO-1) and improved malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase renal tissue levels. The combined effect improved I/R consequences for blood urea, creatinine, and creatinine clearance and improved blood oxygenation and metabolic acidosis. Moreover, the combination improved the renal soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interlukin-6 (IL-6) with histopathological improvement of tubular necrosis with a decrease in the apoptotic marker caspase-3 and an increase in the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression. Conclusions Cilostazol or levosimendan potentiates the renoprotective effect of Ipre against renal I/R injury, associated with upregulation of antioxidant genes Nrf2, HO-1, and NOQ-1 expression.
Assessment of Plasmodium falciparum infection and fitness of genetically modified Anopheles gambiae aimed at mosquito population replacement

Genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes expressing anti-plasmodial effectors propagating through wild mosquito populations by means of gene drive is a promising tool to support current malaria control strategies. The process of generating GM mosquitoes involves genetic transformation of mosquitoes from a laboratory colony and, often, interbreeding with other GM lines to cross in auxiliary traits. These mosquito colonies and GM lines thus often have different genetic backgrounds and GM lines are invariably highly inbred, which in conjunction with their independent rearing in the laboratory may translate to differences in their susceptibility to malaria parasite infection and life history traits. Here, we show that laboratory Anopheles gambiae colonies and GM lines expressing Cas9 and Cre recombinase vary greatly in their susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum NF54 infection. Therefore, the choice of mosquitoes to be used as a reference when conducting infection or life history trait assays requires careful consideration. To address these issues, we established an experimental pipeline involving genetic crosses and genotyping of mosquitoes reared in shared containers throughout their lifecycle. We used this protocol to examine whether GM lines expressing the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) Scorpine in the mosquito midgut interfere with parasite infection and mosquito survival. We demonstrate that Scorpine expression in the Peritrophin 1 (Aper1) genomic locus reduces both P. falciparum sporozoite prevalence and mosquito lifespan; both these phenotypes are likely to be associated with the disturbance of the midgut microbiota homeostasis. These data lead us to conclude that the Aper1-Sco GM line could be used in proof-of-concept experiments aimed at mosquito population replacement, although the impact of its reduced fitness on the spread of the transgene through wild populations requires further investigation.
An evaluation online registration for webOpac of Perpustakaan Sultanah Bahiyah

The university library exists to support the function of the university in terms of teaching and research which is particularly through its provision of adequate and relevant information resources that are supportive for faculty program needs.It is clear that the provision of up-to-date hard cover material and publications is limiting to which access to and downloading of information from computerized systems remains as a crucial factor.This makes the university library role is crucial in ensuring that the information materials are readily accessible with ease of sharing.Hence, the aim of the research was to determine the present level of acceptance for online registration and furthermore to identify factors that can affect the online registration users in using the system.The research model was developed from two dimensions named Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which was developed by Fishbein and Azjen and Technology Acceptance-Model (TAM), developed by Davis.The research was conducted at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Kedah.The respondents comprised of a sample of 100 Perpustakaan Sultanah Bahiyah employees. The questionnaire consisted of two sections, named demographic factor and the level of acceptance for online registration.Data were analyzed through independent t-test, one-way ANOVA and correlation. The statement "Assuming I have access to the online registration, I intend to use it" shows that 36.4 percent of the respondents disagree with this statement.In contrast, attitude towards online registration significantly associated with education level.The study also yielded evidence suggesting job position factor were significantly associated with attitude towards online registration. For example, the F value 10.367 is significant at the level 0.000. Thus, these revelations posed a challenge for Perpustakaan Sultanah Bahiyah to improve library staff competencies and skills such as information resources, information access, technology, management and research. Finally, some suggestions and direction for future researches have been forwarded to facilitate the online registration users.
Decontamination Efficacy Testing of COTS SteriFx Prodcuts for Mass Personnel and Casualty Decontamination

Abstract : SteriFx has a proprietary COTS technology that has a high potential to serve as a mass decontamination chemical that is very safe and consists of all GRAS components. Previous work has demonstrated efficacy against spores, and this study was conducted to: confirm the safety of the product, better understand the interaction of the product with common military and first responder equipment/vehicles, and the capacity of the technology to inactivate viable spores of threat agents. There were no unexpected results that would make the technology unusable on equipment/vehicles, and that the product is no more corrosive than common solutions used in decontamination scenarios. The efficacy of the formulation in decontaminating anthrax spores is promising as it represents a truly safe (for human skin contact) decontaminating solution for mass casualties. Work is planned to strengthen the sporicidal activity of the formulation, test in the presence of an organic load, demonstrate activity on a human skin model, and to begin field trials.
Modelling and Investigation of Crack Growth for 3D-Printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) with Various Printing Parameters and Ambient Temperatures

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of the significant industrial manufacturing methods in the modern era. Many materials are used for 3D printing; however, as the most used material in fused deposition modelling (FDM) technology, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) offers good mechanical properties. It is perfect for making structures for industrial applications in complex environments. Three-dimensional printing parameters, including building orientation, layers thickness, and nozzle size, critically affect the crack growth in FDM structures under complex loads. Therefore, this paper used the dynamic bending vibration test to investigate their influence on fatigue crack growth (FCG) rate under dynamic loads and the Paris power law constant C and m. The paper proposed an analytical solution to determine the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack tip based on the measurement of structural dynamic response. The experimental results show that the lower ambient temperature, as well as increased nozzle size and layer thickness, provide a lower FCG rate. The printing orientation, which is the same as loading, also slows the crack growth. The linear regression between these parameters and Paris Law’s coefficient also proves the same conclusion.
Personality traits and occupational stress among special needs education teachers

We assessed the association between personality traits, sex, and occupational stress among special needs education teachers. A total of 472 special needs education teachers from Southwest Nigeria were participants (female = 39.2%; age range 23 to 58 years, special education school = 23). A logistic regression analysis indicated that the teachers with higher levels of extraversion and openness had the highest likelihood of occupational stress, and male teachers had a greater likelihood of occupational stress as compared to female teachers. Our findings were contrary to expectation as teachers with higher levels of extraversion and openness tend to have a lower likelihood for occupational stress and female teachers to have a higher likelihood for occupational stress. These findings suggest gendered resilience in females in patriarchal Nigeria.
Carbon Footprint-Energy Detection for Desalination Small Plant Adaptation Response

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) system, which can be used as a decision support tool for managing environmental sustainability, includes carbon footprint assessment as one of the available methodologies. In this study, a carbon footprint assessment was used to investigate seawater production systems of a desalination plant in Senok, Kelantan, Malaysia. Three stages of the desalination plant processing system were investigated and the inventory database was developed using the relevant model framework. Subsequently, measurements and interpretations were performed on several key indicators such as greenhouse gases, energy efficiency, acidic gases, smog, and toxic gases. Overall, the results of the study indicate that the Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology that is used in the desalination plant in the study area is one of the best options to meet the demands of the environmental sustainability agenda (SDGs). This is due to the lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, of about 3.5 × 10−2 kg of CO2 eq per m3/year, that was recorded for the entire operation of the system. However, several factors that influence important errors in carbon footprint decisions, such as the lack of EIA reporting data and the literature on carbon footprint in the Malaysian scenario, in addition to direct and indirect carbon input calculations, need to be identified in more detail in future research.
Phases in the strategy formation process: an exploratory study of Irish SMEs

[Extract] This paper provides a description of how strategies form and evolve in the small to medium-sized enterprise (SME). The results are based on a series of nine case studies and the methodology used involved an intensive, longitudinal, inductive and comparative case-based approach. Although the research undertaken is quite limited and exploratory in nature, a number of important observations may be drawn from the empirical evidence: • the strategy process was planned but also emergent in nature; • the degree of planning undertaken in the foundation phase appeared to be most influenced by the personality of the entrepreneur, the type of business and business context; • the strategy process appeared to follow a phase pattern over time, with firms moving from an early fluid phase to a more defined phase, usually triggered by a crisis or defining episode. Therefore, the degree of planning undertaken was a function of organisational history.