Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thorns amongst Roses? Lived Experience of Philippine Male College Students Aspiring to Become Professional Elementary Teachers

There is a noticeable under-representation of the male gender particularly in the field of elementary teacher education. The main aim of this paper is to understand the lived experience of male college students aspiring to become professional elementary teachers. As phenomenological research, it involved six purposively selected male students enrolled in a predominantly female elementary teacher education program in a Philippine university. The data were gathered through online interviews and analyzed based on a phenomenological analysis framework. The following themes emerged: 1. ) We hear discouraging stereotypes about teaching; 2. ) We are passionate about educating the young ones; 3. ) We feel that awkward moment in a room of females; and 4. ) We have an inclusive learning environment. These themes are based on the individual textural and structural descriptions and form the basis for the composite textural and structural descriptions of the phenomenon of interest. This paper confirms the experiences encountered by males in the formal teaching career stage as relative to experiences received by males in the early stage of the teacher preparation. It also identifies factors that encourage males to enter elementary teacher education as a field of study, providing practical insights for designing a more inclusive program.
Hong Kong Poison Information Centre: Annual Report 2013

Objective To report and analyse the poisoning data of Hong Kong Poison Information Centre (HKPIC) in 2013. Methods In 2013, all poisoning cases received by HKPIC were retrieved from its database [Poison Information and Clinical Management System (PICMS)] for analysis. Results A total of 3,783 poisoned cases were analysed. There were 1,595 male patients (42.2%), 2,185 female patients (57.8%) and 3 sex unspecified patients (0.1%). Middle aged group (30-39 years) composed about one-fifth (20.8%) of the poisoning cases while about two-third (66.8%) of them were between 20 and 59 years old. Common causes for poisoning were suspected self-harm/suicidal attempt (43%), unintentional exposure (15.3%) and abusive substances use (14.5%). Five commonest types of poison exposed were paracetamol, benzodiazepine, zopiclone, household products and Chinese herbal medicine. Majority of the patients were managed with supportive measures, and 13.2% and 10.8% of them were treated by decontamination and antidotes respectively. Most cases had uneventful recovery; 0.9% of the poisoning resulted in death and 4.3% had major outcomes. Conclusions This 8th annual report provided updated epidemiological information on poisoning pattern in Hong Kong and highlighted important changes in comparing with our previous reports. (Hong Kong j. emerg.med. 2014;21:249-259)
Axial Capacity of Offshore Piles in Dense North Sea Sands

After describing the predominantly dense sand site conditions encountered in the Leman field of the southern North Sea, attention is focused on a 38.1-m long, 660-mm-diameter steel pipe conductor driven from the Leman BD platform, reporting both the driving records and a full-scale tension test to failure. A summary is then presented of new design methods, which have been developed through recent research and been shown to be more reliable than alternative procedures. Applying the new recommendations to the Leman conditions shows: (1) that they predict the Leman BD conductor test accurately; and (2) that the piles supporting the nearby Leman AD II platform are likely to have compressive and tensile capacities approximately 20 and 65 greater, respectively, than expected from the conventional “North Sea variant” of the American Petroleum Institute RP2A procedure. These results have significant implications when considering potential reconfigurations of the platform's load carrying requirements.
Altered connectivity in the right inferior frontal gyrus associated with self-control in adolescents exhibiting problematic smartphone use: A fMRI study

Abstract Background With the continued spread of smartphones and development of the internet, the potential negative effects arising from problematic smartphone use (PSU) in adolescents are being reported on an increasing basis. This study aimed to investigate whether altered resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is related to the psychological factors underlying PSU in adolescents. Methods Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were acquired from 47 adolescents with PSU and 46 healthy control adolescents (the CON group). Seed-based functional connectivity analyses were then performed to compare the two groups with respect to rsFC in the right inferior frontal gyrus, associated with various forms of self-control, and rsFC in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Results Compared to the CON group, the PSU group exhibited a reduction in rsFC between the right inferior frontal gyrus and limbic areas, including the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, the left amygdala, and the right hippocampus. In addition, a reduction in fronto-limbic rsFC was associated with the severity of PSU, the degree of self-control, and the amount of time the subjects used their smartphones. Conclusion Adolescents with PSU exhibited reduced levels of fronto-limbic functional connectivity; this mechanism is involved in salience attribution and self-control, attributes that are critical to the clinical manifestation of substance and behavioral addictions. Our data provide clear evidence for alterations in brain connectivity with respect to self-control in PSU.
SCALE-UP OF LAYER DRYERS: A UNIFIED APPROACH

Abstract The concept of Specific Drying Rate is introduced for analysis of experimental drying data for layer dryers and as a convenient scale-up factor. In conjunction with data obtained from a batch laboratory simulation the method is applicable to most types of continuous layer dryers. Three illustrations of the use of this approach for scale-up are presented including a continuous convection heated rotary shelf dryer, an indirectly heated paddle dryer, and an indirectly heated plate dryer with heating zones.
QKPT: Securing Your Private Keys in Cloud With Performance, Scalability and Transparency

Private key (e.g., RSA key) protection is a significant issue for cloud but existing keyless or keyguard solutions suffer from performance, elasticity or applicability limitations. Recently, represented by Intel KPT, a novel keyguard architecture emerges to combine trusted platform module and crypto accelerator for achieving both security and performance. However, the straight use of KPT for private key protection may not be a good fit in cloud as it incurs challenges on protection capacity, key provisioning latency and transparency. Based on KPT-like hardware, we propose QKPT, a comprehensive key management system to bring your own private keys (BYOPK) into multi-tenant clouds. QKPT introduces a carefully-designed key wrapping layer to overcome these challenges. A small symmetric wrapping key (SWK) is generated for each tenant as the master key to resolve the former two challenges, while a special private key wrapping scheme is adopted to resolve the transparency limitation. Additionally, QKPT incorporates certificate trust to enhance the security of the SWK lifecycle and provides a hardened key server solution without expensive HSM. The evaluation shows that QKPT has a low runtime overhead (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\leq$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mo>≤</mml:mo></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="li-ieq1-3137403.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> 1.2% for SSL/TLS handshakes) and still greatly outperforms the software baseline (3.5x-17x) owing to the crypto offloading.
Wheat germination and highly diluted agitated gibberellic acid (10e-30) - a multi researcher study

Grains of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L., Capo variety) were observed under the influence of highly diluted gibberellic acid (10-30) prepared by stepwise dilution and agitation according to a protocol derived from homeopathy (ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œG30xÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â). Adequate control was used (water prepared according to the homeopathic protocol ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œW30xÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â and/or untreated water ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œW0ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â). Two sets of multicenter experiments were performed, 4 in 2009-2010 and 4 in 2011, involving altogether 6 researchers, 6 laboratories and 4,000 grains per treatment group. Data were found to be homogeneous within the control groups as well as within the verum groups. When the 2009-2010 experiments were pooled, mean germination rates after 24 hours were (85.9 + 2.6) for the control group and (82.1 + 5.7) for G30x (mean + SD at the level of experiments in %) (N = 2,000 per group). Verum germination rate was 4.4% lower than (i.e. equal to 96.6% of) (4.4 + 96.6 = 101) the control germination rate (100%). The difference is statistically significant (p < 0.001) and the effect size (d) is large (> 0.8). Observations at other points in time between 0 and 40 hours of germination yielded similar results. Practically no difference was found between W30x and W0 groups (p > 0.05). When the 2011 experiments were pooled, the mean germination rates after 24 hours were (73 + 12) for the control group and (73 + 14) for G30x (N = 2,000 per group), i.e. there was practically no difference between the groups (p > 0.05). We interpret the data from 2009-2010 on wheat germination within 40 hours as being in line with our previous findings on wheat stalk growth after one week, i.e. as confirmation that gibberellic acid 30x can influence, i.e. slow down, wheat development. Various possible reasons for the absence of any difference between groups in the 2011 experiments, including seasonal variance, are discussed and it is suggested to perform wheat germination experiments in the very beginning of autumn season only.
De-internationalization of transactional platforms: an exploratory case study

ABSTRACT This study explores why some transactional platforms that have expanded into foreign markets decide to de-internationalize. The empirical part of this study focuses on an anonymized transactional platform called Alpha and its de-internationalization from the host market. Our exploratory case study shows that Alpha’s de-internationalization was driven by a combination of external and internal factors. These factors were related and contributed in different ways to create a downward spiral of de-internationalization. In conclusion, we propose that such a negative spiral in foreign markets is related to a firm’s inability to recontextualize, something that even globally standardized transactional platforms must be capable of doing. The importance of recontextualization highlights the fact that a platform business consists of elements that are embedded in a particular local context.
Sulphur fertilization on biochemical constituents of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata. L) in non-calcareous soil of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu

Sulphur is the fourth most important plant nutrient after nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and it is becoming increasingly crucial in high-quality crop production (Bhoyar., 2019). Since limited work has been carried out regarding different sulphur sources on cabbage production in the Coimbatore district, the present study was undertaken to investigate the sulphur sources and levels on various biochemical constituents of cabbage. Hence a field experiment was conducted in the farmer’s field at Viraliyur village, Thondamuthur block of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu to assess the effect of sulphur fertilization on improving the biochemical constituents of cabbage hybrid Saint. There were four different S sources (Elemental sulphur, Potassium sulphate, Gypsum, Single super phosphate) applied at five levels (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 kg ha-1) and replicated thrice in a factorial randomized block design. The crop was fertilized with a Soil Test Crop Response-prescribed dose of NPK (200:125:25 kg ha-1). The crop was harvested on 90th day and cabbage heads were analysed for various biochemical constituents like ascorbic acid, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), chlorophyll content, glucosinolates (GLs), total phenol content (TPC), sulphur containing amino acid (methionine) and antioxidant enzyme activity (peroxidase). The influence of S fertilizers on biochemical constituents increased significantly with increasing levels of sulphur fertilization up to 80 kg S ha-1 excluding ascorbic acid content. The pooled data showed that gypsum applied at 80 kg ha-1 registered the maximum GLs (69.0 µmol g-1), TPC (31.9 mM 100g-1), methionine (32.3%), peroxidase activity (0.70 units min-1mg-1), TSS (7.64 0Brix), TA (0.64%), ascorbic acid (61.4 mg 100g-1) and total chlorophyll (1.21 mg g-1) in cabbage head. The lowest content of biochemical constituents viz., GLs (34.1 µmol g-1), TPC (8.10 mM 100g-1), methionine (17.6%) and peroxidase (0.31 units min-1mg-1) were observed in control applied NPK alone. There were positive and significant changes in the biochemical constituents of cabbage due to S application which confirms the improvement in the quality of cabbage head. The study concluded that gypsum was the better sulphur source for improving the quality of cabbage.
Comparing JIT, MRP and TOC, and embedding TOC into MRP

The traditional material requirements planning (MRP) system for planning and controlling production systems is being replaced more and more by just-in-time (JIT) and the theory of constraints (TOC). Because JIT and TOC share many elements with MRP and because MRP is very flexible, it is not difficult to make MRP behave like JIT or TOC. Consequently manufacturers with MRP systems need not dismantle them to implement JIT or TOC. A five-step technical procedure for embedding TOC into MRP is presented in this paper along with an illustrative example from a microelectronics plant. Next a simple production line is analysed using a Markov chain model to examine the types of improvements each approach makes and the effect of these improvements on the performance of the line. Performance measures are the mean and variance of the output, shortage, inventory level, and cycle time of the production line. Insights are developed into the reasons for the superior performance of JIT and TOC.
DESIGN EXCEPTIONS AND SAFETY

Design exceptions are used in roadway projects that require design elements that vary from typical designs. There have been concerns raised regarding the safety implications of the use of lower than typical design values. This study summarized past design exceptions in Kentucky to document their frequency and reason for their use and evaluate possible safety consequences from these exceptions. A site visit was made to a large number of the locations where the project was built with the requested design exception, and available crash data were obtained at these locations. There was an average of 39 design exceptions per year for the 1993 to 1998 period. The majority of the projects involved a bridge replacement with the next most frequent being roadway widening reconstruction projects and construction of turning lanes. The most common design exception was for a design speed lower than the posted speed limit followed by a reduction in sight distance, curve radius, or shoulder width. The crash analysis showed that, with a very few exceptions, use of the design exception process did not have any negative effects on highway safety. The analysis showed that the design exception projects resulted in an improvement over the prior condition although some aspect of the design may not be typical.
PointSCNet: Point Cloud Structure and Correlation Learning Based on Space-Filling Curve-Guided Sampling

Geometrical structures and the internal local region relationship, such as symmetry, regular array, junction, etc., are essential for understanding a 3D shape. This paper proposes a point cloud feature extraction network named PointSCNet, to capture the geometrical structure information and local region correlation information of a point cloud. The PointSCNet consists of three main modules: the space-filling curve-guided sampling module, the information fusion module, and the channel-spatial attention module. The space-filling curve-guided sampling module uses Z-order curve coding to sample points that contain geometrical correlation. The information fusion module uses a correlation tensor and a set of skip connections to fuse the structure and correlation information. The channel-spatial attention module enhances the representation of key points and crucial feature channels to refine the network. The proposed PointSCNet is evaluated on shape classification and part segmentation tasks. The experimental results demonstrate that the PointSCNet outperforms or is on par with state-of-the-art methods by learning the structure and correlation of point clouds effectively.
Experimental and Theoretical Study of Instantaneous Piston Assembly Friction in a Gasoline Engine

A piston assembly friction model has been developed to predict the individual performance of compression rings, the oil control ring and the piston skirt. Validation of this model has been undertaken by comparing the predicted results with the experimental measurements of piston assembly friction in a gasoline engine under fired conditions using the IMEP (indicated mean effective pressure) method. The experimental results for an SAE 0W20 without friction modifier were compared with the predictions. The predicted results correlate very well with the measurements, especially at higher lubricant inlet temperatures. Piston skirt friction was predicted using both a simple concentric / cylinder model and a more realistic but computationally intensive method incorporating piston secondary motion. The results clearly indicate than the latter more realistic method is required to achieve satisfactory correlation with the measured data.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Assessing Ecologically Valid Methods of Auditory Feedback Measurement in Individuals With Typical Speech.

PURPOSE Auditory feedback is thought to contribute to the online control of speech production. Yet, the standard method of estimating auditory feedback control (i.e., reflexive responses to auditory-motor perturbations), although sound, requires specialized instrumentation, meticulous calibration, unnatural tasks, and specific acoustic environments. The purpose of this study was to explore more ecologically valid features of speech production to determine their relationships with auditory feedback mechanisms. METHOD Two previously proposed measures of within-utterance variability (centering and baseline variability) were compared with reflexive response magnitudes in 30 adults with typical speech. These three measures were estimated for both the laryngeal and articulatory subsystems of speech. RESULTS Regardless of the speech subsystem, neither centering nor baseline variability was shown to be related to reflexive response magnitudes. Likewise, no relationships were found between centering and baseline variability. CONCLUSIONS Despite previous suggestions that centering and baseline variability may be related to auditory feedback mechanisms, this study did not support these assertions. However, the detection of such relationships may have required a larger degree of variability in responses, relative to that found in those with typical speech. Future research on these relationships is warranted in populations with more heterogeneous responses, such as children or clinical populations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.17330546.
A Unique Case of Fatal Coinfection Caused by Leptospira spp. and Hepatozoon canis in a Red Fox Cub (Vulpes vulpes)

Red foxes are the most abundant wild carnivore species in Europe commonly exposed to pathogenic Leptospira and Hepatozoon canis. Despite high seroprevalence, the clinical disease caused by these pathogens in red foxes has never been reported. Herein, we report the first-ever case of a fatal Leptospira spp. and H. canis coinfection in a two-month-old red fox cub with acute haemolytic anaemia, mild bronchopneumonia, intraalveolar haemorrhage, and tubulonephrosis. The presence of pathogenic Leptospira spp. DNA was detected in the kidney and lung tissues of the infected animal. In contrast to our previous knowledge, we believe that such fatal cases due to concomitant infection by Leptospira spp. and H. canis, especially in young animals, may commonly occur in nature. However, further studies are required to identify other factors that possibly contribute to the severity and the pathogenic effect of Leptospira spp. and H. canis infections in red foxes.
Morphological and genomic characterisation of the Schistosoma hybrid infecting humans in Europe reveals admixture between Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis

Schistosomes cause schistosomiasis, the world’s second most important parasitic disease after malaria in terms of public health and social-economic impacts. A peculiar feature of these dioecious parasites is their ability to produce viable and fertile hybrid offspring. Originally only present in the tropics, schistosomiasis is now also endemic in southern Europe. Based on the analysis of two genetic markers the European schistosomes had previously been identified as hybrids between the livestock- and the human-infective species Schistosoma bovis and Schistosoma haematobium, respectively. Here, using PacBio long-read sequencing technology we performed genome assembly improvement and annotation of S. bovis, one of the parental species for which no satisfactory genome assembly was available. We then describe the whole genome introgression levels of the hybrid schistosomes, their morphometric parameters (eggs and adult worms) and their compatibility with two European snail strains used as vectors (Bulinus truncatus and Planorbarius metidjensis). Schistosome-snail compatibility is a key parameter for the parasites life cycle progression, and thus the capability of the parasite to establish in a given area. Our results show that this Schistosoma hybrid is strongly introgressed genetically, composed of 77% S. haematobium and 23% S. bovis origin. This genomic admixture suggests an ancient hybridization event and subsequent backcrosses with the human-specific species, S. haematobium, before its introduction in Corsica. We also show that egg morphology (commonly used as a species diagnostic) does not allow for accurate hybrid identification while genetic tests do.
Market Segmentation Analysis using Attitudes toward Transportation

Traveler attitudes and preferences as well as demographic variables are important components of travel behavior. By using travel attitudes, factor and cluster analyses were conducted to segment the sample. Six distinct groups were extracted: transit enthusiasts, anxious status seekers, carless riders, green cruisers, frugal travelers, and obstinate drivers. The segments showed unique combinations of attitudes with distinct travel behaviors and various degrees of intention to use public transportation. Gender differences were then investigated, and the results suggest that women and men exhibit differences in attitudes, preferences, and behaviors. The design of strategies to promote alternatives to car use should target the market segments that are most motivated to change, focusing on the attitudes that can induce a change, such as pro transit or sensibility to the environment.