Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Implementing the Common European Framework of Reference on Language Education: A Critical Review

Since its inception in 2001, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has been employed worldwide as an international standard for teaching and learning languages. The framework was established to provide a mutual basis for language proficiency comprising language curriculum, reference materials, and assessments adopted globally. Despite gaining fame in the contemporary teaching and learning arena, the depth of the various dimensions of its impact on language classroom pedagogy at the school level is yet to be explored. Thus, this systematic review is aimed to investigate the implementation of CEFR in schools and its impact on language education. The review methodology involved the identification of the relevant literature, the filtering of articles, and the evaluation of the quality of the articles based on pre-determined criteria. The analysis revealed that teachers and students perceive the CEFR positively. The framework had positive impacts on the students' learning process but had more adverse effects on the teachers. The review identified major themes such as the dynamics of teaching and learning of the language, teachers’ understanding and reception, students’ achievements of learning outcomes, the efficacy of classroom assessments and teachers’ professional development which are critically discussed.
Gaps in Corporate Liability

Fact-finding is a fundamental step in providing documentation that can be used in domestic and international proceedings. The United Nations establishes commissions of inquiry to investigate international law violations, often in contexts of armed conflict, under the mandate of the Human Rights Council or other more political organs of the UN. They vary in mandate, as well as in investigative and geographic scope. However, to this day, fact-finding mechanisms or inquiry commissions have only rarely conducted investigations into corporate crimes, even in cases where the UN has explicitly recognized the part played by economic actors in armed conflicts. Because corporations are not subjects of international law, they are presumed not to have any direct obligations under international law. Moreover, the mandates of fact-finding missions de facto exclude corporations from investigations because such mandates are always designed to investigate international law violations. By voluntarily dismissing any investigation of corporate crimes, the UN is significantly limiting prospects for corporate responsibility and impeding the process of transitional justice.
Ginger extract as an alternative to thrips (Thrips tabaci) control in hydroponic lettuce

Ginger has a large number of essential oils, zingiberene is the major substance found in it, which may be linked to the insecticidal activity of the plant. Therefore, it can be a viable alternative to replace the use of pesticides for pest control. The objective of this work was to evaluate the use of this ginger-based extract in hydroponic lettuce as an alternative to thrips control. The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design, with five treatments and four replications. The treatments used were the concentrations of 0 %, 20 %, 40 %, 60 %, and 80 % weight/volume of aqueous extract. After 45 days of sowing, the ginger plant extract was applied to the lettuce plants every seven days. A population of thrips was monitored using adhesive traps attached above each experimental plot once a week until harvest. In addition, fresh mass weight, shoot height, and incidence of direct damage to the crop were evaluated. Regarding thrips monitoring, no differences wereobserved indicating the uniformity of the population level among the lettuce parcels. For the evaluation of weight and fresh mass, no differences were observed regarding the treatments. However, from the concentration of 60 %, it was observed the lowest averages of plants with direct damage, showing that the higher the concentration of the solution the lesser insect feeding. Accordingly, the use of ginger plant extract in hydroponic lettuce becomes a promising alternative for reducing thrips feeding on lettuce.
Upper Troposphere Smoke Injection From Large Areal Fires

Large areal fires, such as those ignited following a nuclear detonation, can inject smoke into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Detailed fire simulations allow for assessment of how local weather interacts with these fires and affects smoke lofting. In this study, we employ the fire simulation package in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF‐Fire) model, Version 4.0. 1, to explore how smoke lofting from a fire burning a homogeneous fuel bed changes with varying local winds, relative humidity, and atmospheric boundary‐layer stability for two different‐sized areal fires. The presence of moisture has the greatest influence on the results by raising the altitude of lofting, while faster wind speeds dampen lofting and lower the injection height. Stably stratified conditions inhibit plume propagation compared with neutrally stratified conditions, although the impact of stability is not as strong as that of moisture and winds. These findings highlight the importance of using an appropriate atmospheric profile when simulating large fires, as the local weather can have a meaningful influence on smoke lofting.
Antimicrobial, Immunomodulatory and Anti-Inflammatory Potential of Liposomal Thymoquinone: Implications in the Treatment of Bacterial Pneumonia in Immunocompromised Mice

Acinetobacter baumannii has recently been increasing as an aggressive pathogen in immunocompromised persons. In the present study, we determined the in vitro antibacterial and anti-biofilm activity of thymoquinone (TQ) against A. baumannii. A liposomal formulation of TQ (Lip-TQ) was prepared and its therapeutic potential was investigated in the treatment of A. baumannii infection in immunocompromised mice. Leukopenia was induced in mice by injecting cyclophosphamide (CYP) at a dose of 200 mg/kg and the leukopenic mice were infected with 1 × 106 CFUs of A. baumannii. The effectiveness of free TQ or Lip-TQ against A. baumannii infection was assessed by analyzing the survival rate and bacterial burden. Moreover, the efficacy of Lip-TQ was also studied by examining the systemic inflammatory markers and the histological changes in the lung tissues. The results showed that the mice in the group treated with Lip-TQ at a dose of 10 mg/kg exhibited a 60% survival rate on day 40 post-infection, whereas all the mice treated with free TQ at the same dose died within this duration. Likewise, the lowest bacterial burden was found in the lung tissue of mice treated with Lip-TQ (10 mg/kg). Besides, Lip-TQ treatment remarkably alleviated the infection-associated inflammation, oxidative stress, and histological changes in the lung tissues. Based on the findings of the present study, we recommend considering Lip-TQ as a valuable therapeutic formulation in the treatment of A. baumannii-associated pneumonia in immunocompromised subjects.
Reflexive Response of Neck Muscle to Sudden Perturbation after Prolonged Smartphone Use

Prolonged smartphone use induces passive stretch of neck tissues and muscle fatigue, affecting spinal stability and pain. It is necessary to evaluate the effect of smartphone use on the reflexive response to detect the changes in neck tissues and head stability. A laboratory experiment (n=10) was conducted to investigate the reflexive response of neck muscle to perturbation after 30 minutes of smartphone use. Neck extensor muscle activation and its activation timing to perturbation were investigated before and after smartphone use. Head angle and muscle activation level were collected during smartphone use. During smartphone use, muscle activation gradually increased. After smartphone use, neck muscles showed a higher activation level and significantly delayed onset to perturbation. Smartphone use changed the reflexive response of the neck muscle. Further study is needed to investigate the association between smartphone use and neuromuscular changes to the tissues of the cervical spine.
How To Study Public Life

How do we accommodate a growing urban population in a way that is sustainable, equitable, and inviting? This question is becoming increasingly urgent as we face diminishing fossil-fuel resources and the effects of a changing climate while global cities continue to compete to be the most vibrant centres of culture, knowledge, and finance. Jan Gehl has been examining this question since the 1960s, when few urban designers or planners were thinking about designing cities for people. But given the unpredictable, complex and ephemeral nature of life in cities, how can we best design public infrastructure - vital to cities for getting for place to place, or staying in place - for human use? Studying city life and understanding the factors that encourage or discourage use is the key to designing inviting public space. In How to Study Public Life Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre draw from their combined experience of over 50 years to provide a history of public-life study as well as methods and tools necessary to recapture city life as an important planning dimension. This type of systematic study began in earnest in the 1960s, when several researchers and journalists on different continents criticized urban planning for having forgotten life in the city. City life studies provide knowledge about human behaviour in the built environment in an attempt to put it on an equal footing with knowledge about urban elements such as buildings and transport systems. Studies can be used as input in the decision-making process, as part of overall planning, or in designing individual projects such as streets, squares or parks. The original goal is still the goal today: to recapture city life as an important planning dimension. Anyone interested in improving city life will find inspiration, tools, and examples in this invaluable guide.
An Arrow-Curve Path Planning Model for Mobile Beacon Node Aided Localization in Air Pollution Monitoring System IoT

In wireless sensor networks, it is crucial to support the collected data of sensor nodes with position information. One of the promising ways to acquire the position of unknown nodes is using a mobile anchor node that traverses throughout the network, stops at determined points, and sends its position to aid in obtaining the location of other unknown nodes. The main challenge in using mobile anchor nodes lies in designing the path model with the highest localization accuracy, shortest path length, full coverage area, and minimal power consumption. In this paper, a path model named the Arrow-Curve path model is proposed for mobile node aided localization. The proposed path model can effectively localize all the static unknown sensor positions in the network field with high positioning accuracy and low power consumption while pledging full coverage area. The sensor network is implemented using MATLAB simulation and MCU node in both static unknown nodes and the mobile anchor node. The realtime environment guarantees a realistic environmental model with reliable results. The path model is implemented in realtime in indoor and outdoor environments and compared to the H-Curve path model using a trilateration technique. The results show that the suggested path model achieves better results compared to H-Curve model. The proposed path model achieves an average position error less than that of H-Curve by 10.6% in a simulation environment, 5% in an outdoor realtime environment, and 9% in an indoor realtime environment, and it decreases power consumption by 62.65% in the simulation environment, 50% in the outdoor realtime environment, and 75% in the realtime environment in indoor compared to H-Curve.
Optimal placement of phasor measurement units with GPS receiver

This paper presents a study on optimal placement of phasor measurement units (PMU) with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers for more accurate monitoring of a power system. The optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem is, in general, expressed as a combinatorial optimization problem subjected to the observability constraints of the studied power system, which consumes much time to solve. Three approaches, in this paper, are proposed aiming at reducing computational burden in OPP problems. First, a modified simulated annealing (MSA) method, is proposed. The conventional simulated annealing method is slightly modified in setting the initial temperature and in cooling procedure to consider the current state of solution sets. Second, a direct combination (DC) method is suggested using a simple but very effective heuristic rule. When selecting test and neighboring solution sets, this heuristic rule is used to select most effective sets in the observability sense. And the last one is tabu search (TS) method, in which the heuristic rule used in DC method is also used to reduce the searching spaces effectively. Suggested optimization methods are applied, in this paper, to solve OPP problems in IEEE 14, 30 and 57 bus systems. The simulation results show that the proposed methods can find the optimal solutions in an efficient manner.
Inventive Activity in Early Industrial America: Evidence From Patent Records, 1790–1846

A sample of patent records from the United States between 1790 and 1846 is employed to study the patterns in inventive activity. Patenting was pro-cyclical, and yet began to grow rapidly with the interruptions in foreign trade that preceded the War of 1812. A strong association between patenting and proximity to navigable waterways is also demonstrated. Although the importance of specific mechanisms remains unclear, both the temporal and cross-sectional evidence imply that inventive activity was positively related to the growth of markets during early industrialization.
Effects of unreliable automation and takeover time budget on young drivers’ mental workload

Young drivers are involved in a significantly higher number of crashes than any other age group. Highly automated vehicles are expected to improve traffic safety and reduce human errors; however, driver needs to take over in situations where the automation fails. A driving simulation study was conducted with twenty-eight young drivers to investigate the effects of unreliable automation, different takeover time budgets (TOTBs), and secondary tasks on mental workload during takeover situations. Mental workload was measured using a combination of physiological and secondary task performance measures. Results suggested that when faced with critical incidents, young drivers experienced lower mental workload under 10s of TOTB as compared to 5s or 8s of TOTB especially when they were engaged in a demanding secondary task. In addition, drivers experienced higher mental workload when regaining the control of the vehicle in the automated mode than the manual driving condition.
Understanding Aggressive Driving: The Role of Personality and Individual Differences

The goal of the present study was to examine the role of personality and individual differences on aggressive driving. It was hypothesized that personality and individual differences would be significantly related to aggressive driving behavior. A sample of n = 252 participants from a southeastern university and surrounding community were required to complete a series of driving questionnaires; the ADBQ, DBQ, and CFQ-D; and a series of personality questionnaires; the IPIP-NEO-PIR and BFI. Our results indicated that personality factors and individual differences significantly predicted aggressive driving outcomes. These results provided a preliminary personality based characteristic profile of the aggressive driver. These results also support the use of trait anger and trait cooperation independently from the subscales they are derived from (Neuroticism and Agreeableness) to predict aggressive driving behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
An Assessment of Selected Nutritional, Bioactive, Thermal and Technological Properties of Brown and Red Irish Seaweed Species

Irish edible brown (Himanthalia elongata—sea spaghetti, Alaria esculenta—Irish wakame) and red seaweeds (Palmaria palmata—dulse, Porphyra umbilicalis—nori) were assessed for nutritional (proximate composition; salt; pH; amino acid; mineral and dietary fibre contents); bioactive (total phenolic content (TPC) and in vitro antioxidant activity (DPPH and FRAP)); thermal (thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)); and technological (water holding capacity (WHC), oil holding capacity (OHC) and swelling capacity (SC)) properties. Red seaweeds had higher (p < 0.05) protein levels, whereas brown seaweeds possessed higher (p < 0.05) moisture, ash, insoluble and total dietary fibre contents. Nori had the lowest (p < 0.05) salt level. Seaweed fat levels ranged from 1 to 2% DW. Aspartic and glutamic acids were the most abundant amino acids. The total amino acid (TAA) content ranged from 4.44 to 31.80%. Seaweeds contained numerous macro (e.g., Na) and trace minerals. The TPC, DPPH and FRAP activities followed the order: sea spaghetti ≥ nori > Irish wakame > dulse (p < 0.05). TGA indicated maximum weight loss at 250 °C. Dulse had the lowest (p < 0.05) WHC and SC properties. Dulse and nori had higher (p < 0.05) OHC than the brown seaweeds. Results demonstrate the potential of seaweeds as functional food product ingredients.
The Role of Nucleocytoplasmic Transport Defects in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

There is ample evidence that nucleocytoplasmic-transport deficits could play an important role in the pathology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the currently available data are often circumstantial and do not fully clarify the exact causal and temporal role of nucleocytoplasmic transport deficits in ALS patients. Gaining this knowledge will be of great significance in order to be able to target therapeutically nucleocytoplasmic transport and/or the proteins involved in this process. The availability of good model systems to study the nucleocytoplasmic transport process in detail will be especially crucial in investigating the effect of different mutations, as well as of other forms of stress. In this review, we discuss the evidence for the involvement of nucleocytoplasmic transport defects in ALS and the methods used to obtain these data. In addition, we provide an overview of the therapeutic strategies which could potentially counteract these defects.
Battalion Evaluation of the Combat Vehicle Command and Control System in Distributed Interactive Simulation. Preliminary Findings

Abstract : To meet command, control, and communications (C3) challenges of the future battlefield, the Combat Vehicle Command and Control (CVCC) research and development program evaluates automated C3 technology, using soldier-in-the-loop simulation. The CVCC system includes a digital Position Navigation system, a digital Command and Control Display, the Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer, and digital workstations in the Tactical Operations Center. The battalion-level evaluation is comparing the CVCC system with a Baseline (conventional) configuration in terms of operational effectiveness. Soldier machine interface (SMI) and training implications are also addressed. Using M1 tank simulators in the Mounted Warfare Test Bed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, unit commanders and executive officers with crews are integrated with semiautomated vehicles under their control to form complete tank battalions. Each battalion completes four days of training and testing culminating in a simulated combat test scenario. This report presents preliminary data based on two Baseline battalions and two CVCC-equipped battalions. Improvements in the performance of unit and vehicle commanders are noted, and selected SMI and training results are discussed. The findings help determine operational effectiveness parameters, user requirements, and training requirements for future automated C3 systems for combat vehicles. Command and control, CVCC, CITV, M1 tank, Operational effectiveness, Distributed interactive simulation, C3 Training requirements, Soldier-in-the-loop, Assessment
Italian Children Exposure to Bisphenol A: Biomonitoring Data from the LIFE PERSUADED Project

A human biomonitoring (HBM) study on bisphenol A (BPA) in Italian children and adolescents was performed within the LIFE PERSUADED project, considering the residing areas, sex and age. The median urinary BPA level was 7.02 µg/L, with children living in the South of Italy or in urban areas having higher levels than those residing in the North or in rural areas. Children aged 4–6 years had higher BPA levels than those aged 7–10 and 11–14 years, but no differences were detected between sexes. The exposure in Italian children was higher compared to children from other countries, but lower than the HBM guidance value (135 µg/L). The estimated daily intake was 0.17 μg/kg body weight (bw) per day, about 24-fold below the temporary Tolerable Daily Intake of 4 μg/kg bw per day established by the European Food Safety Authority. However, this threshold was exceeded in 1.44% of the enrolled children, raising concern about the overall exposure of Italian young population.
The Effect of Sociodemographic Factors, Parity and Cervical Cancer on Antibiotic Treatment for Uncomplicated Cystitis in Women: A Nationwide Cohort Study

Background: Uncomplicated cystitis is one of the most common reasons for antibiotic treatment in otherwise healthy women. Nationwide studies on antibiotic treatment for this infection and in relation to factors beyond the infection itself have hitherto not been available. Methods: This was a nationwide open cohort study consisting of 352,507 women aged 15–50 years with uncomplicated cystitis (2006–2018). The outcome was a redeemed antibiotic prescription within five days from the cystitis diagnosis. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship between the outcome and the predictor variables. Results: This study identified 192,065 redeemed treatments (54.5%). Several sociodemographic variables were associated with antibiotic treatment. For example, women with the lowest income had an odds ratio (OR) of 1.26 (95% CI 1.23–1.28) compared to those with the highest income. History of cervical cancer and high parity were also associated with lower treatment rates. Conclusion: This study presents novel factors beyond the infection which seem to affect the antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated cystitis in women. Future studies to investigate possible mechanisms are warranted in order to properly use our findings. This may help healthcare workers and planners to provide a more equal treatment plan for this common infection, which may reduce misuse of antibiotics, decrease costs and improve efforts against antibiotic resistance.