Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of dialogic reading on the expressive vocabulary of pre-school aged children with moderate to severely impaired expressive language skills

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dialogic reading on the expressive vocabulary skills of children with moderate to severe expressive impairments. Previous research has shown positive effects of dialogic reading on the language skills of children who are typically developing and on children who are at-risk for language delays. However, there is limited research indicating the effectiveness of dialogic reading on children with moderate to severely delayed language skills. The participants in this single-case, multiple baseline across participants designed study received four weeks of individual dialogic reading intervention which was intended to increase their expressive vocabulary skills of a near-transfer vocabulary word list. The results revealed that all three participants demonstrated a significant increase in expressive vocabulary of the near-transfer vocabulary list.
Analysis of the palatal rugae following Rapid Maxillary Expansion (RME) by using a 3D-3D superimposition procedure

ABSTRACT A sample of 38 Italian subjects (17 males and 21 females, mean age 8.2 ± 1.2 years, age range 7.2–8.8 years), who underwent active Rapid Maxillary Expansion (RME), was studied to assess the reliability of an intraoral scan and the stability of palatal rugae. An intraoral scanner was used to obtain digital dental models pre- and post-treatment. A 3D-3D superimposition procedure was performed, and the Root Mean Square (RMS) of the distance calculated, to verify the forensic validity of this biometric technique. The Intra-Class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) values for the overall inter- and intra-observer agreement were 0.955 (95% CI: 0.931–0.980; p < 0.001) and 0.936 (95% CI: 0.918–0.975; p < 0.001), respectively. The values for TEM and rTEM tests were 0.423 and 1.2% for intra-observer; 0.637 and 1.7% for inter-observer. Results showed a statistically significant difference in RMS mean point-to-point distance between untreated control and treated subjects (p = 0.002). The RMS values to distinguish the pooled group (untreated and treated with RME) from any mismatch ranged from 0.42 to 0.61. This methodology was highly suitable to detect changes caused by RME. Since some modifications were detected, caution is necessary when palatal rugae are analysed for forensic purposes in subjects who underwent RME.
Hindsight 2020: Reflections of community visions from the past

ABSTRACT This study retrospectively analyzes a dozen “Vision 2020” community plans, with critical analysis of their vision statements and subsequent implementation. Evaluation and appraisal review of plan implementation is a valuable component of the community development process, as reflection fosters improvement. This study uses document data and personal interviews with local community professionals across the United States to discover outcomes and assess what planners identify as the barriers and gateways to success when implementing community visions. A varied sample was extracted from long-range plans leading up to year 2020 which exemplified a focus on community visioning. Findings discuss what worked, what did not work, and lessons learned. Subsequent discourse is intended to aid community development professionals with future community visioning processes and implementation.
Research on Supplier Selection of Prefabricated Building Elements from the Perspective of Sustainable Development

Prefabricated building is an efficient building mode. Compared with the traditional building mode, the prefabricated building has advantages of less pollution, high construction efficiency, being more labor-saving, and economy, which is in line with China’s sustainable development strategy. This paper proposes a supplier selection evaluation model based on the mechanism equation model (SEM) and intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP). Based on a detailed literature review, 300 structured questionnaires were distributed to the relevant enterprises, and an evaluation index system of prefabricated building element suppliers was built. With the fitting and modification process using a structural equation model, and assist of a path factor, an evaluation index system for evaluating the prefabricated building element suppliers was finally obtained. Finally, the intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to establish a selection model of prefabricated element suppliers, and the prefabricated element suppliers of Shuangyashan prefabricated construction projects were analyzed as a case study. The results show that the following factors have the most significant impact on supplier selection (from high to low): quality, economy, long-term cooperation, after-sales, and transportation. This study had a comprehensive consideration of the influencing factors existing in the whole selection process and should provide a valuable reference for the sustainable development of prefabricated construction engineering.
Does Performance Breed Slack? Ownership as a Contingency to the Performance Feedback and Slack Relationship

Although organizational slack is a prominent construct in strategic management, it is often treated as an antecedent or enabler of other organizational outcomes, and thus our understanding of where slack comes from is underdeveloped. We draw on the behavioral theory of the firm to develop a better understanding about the antecedents of organizational slack. In so doing, we address a gap in the literature on the antecedents of slack by developing base models showing how and why performance feedback influences the three most common types of slack studied in the literature. Moreover, we contend that ownership is an important contingency that influences these relationships because different types of owners are motivated by different norms. Within a “communitarian” culture such as Japan, domestic owners generally have a multifaceted relationship with the firm and hence are motivated by norms of reciprocity and embeddedness, thereby allowing managers to adopt a stakeholder perspective. In contrast, foreign investors typically have only an arm’s-length relationship with the firm and are thus motivated by stock price, thereby putting “contractarian” pressures on managers to adopt a shareholder perspective. This domestic/foreign ownership distinction influences how resources are allocated and therefore the relationship between performance feedback and different types of slack in the firm. We further emphasize that these relationships will vary in accordance to where the slack resides: internal or external to the firm. We find general support for our hypotheses.
Quality disclosure with substitute and complementary goods

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the quality disclosure when firms simultaneously choose the quantities of products to be produced. By assuming that each firm is privately informed about the quality of its own products and makes quality disclosure decisions after observing private information, we identify the effects of the degree of substitution/complementarity on the amount of disclosed information. We find that when commodities are substitute goods, fixing the disclosure cost, the relationship between competitiveness and the amount of disclosed information is non-monotonic. Furthermore, when commodities are complementary goods, increasing the degree of complementarity will lead to more information being disclosed.
A Meta-Analysis of the Combined Effects of Motivation, Learning and Personality Traits on Academic Performance

Domains of motivation, learning and personality traits (MLP) have emerged as vital constructs in studies of academic performance. Although there are abundant studies on the relationships of the three aforementioned dimensions on performance, no systematic synthesis of the empirical literature has been done regarding how three determinants jointly influence academic performance. Random-effects meta-regression analysis with a restricted maximum likelihood estimator is applied to 54 papers with 344 estimates. Summarization of effect sizes reveal a mean effect size for the study of r=0.22. The forest plot suggests a significant amount of study heterogeneity. No evidence of significant publication bias is uncovered. The achieved results show the significance of MLP as associated variables and also on an individual basis and they can positively impact student’s academic performance. Other mediator variables, including income level, year, main methodology used, cohort gender, sample size, publication type and citations are found to be important variables in understating academic performance. Future work is needed to develop an integrated approach to examine educational objectives and explore the correlates of combined MLP and academic performance.
The Concept of Multiple Impacts of Renewable Energy Sources: A Critical Review

Reaching climate neutrality by 2050 is one of the main long-term objectives of the European Union climate and energy policy, and renewable energy sources (RES) are integral parts of this transition. RES development results in many effects, direct and indirect, linked to each other, societal, local and individual, i.e., “multiple impacts of RES” (MI RES). These effects need to be carefully assessed and evaluated to obtain the full picture of energy field transformation and its context, and enable further development of RES. Nevertheless, the MI RES concept is often presented misleadingly and its scope varies throughout the literature. This paper provides a literature overview of the methodologies of this concept and presents a new concept of MI RES, respecting the difference between effects resulting from the implementation of RES and ultimate multiple impacts. We have summarized the effects into four groups: economic, social, environmental, and technical, which all lead to group of ultimate multiple impacts. Finally, we provide the complex overview of all MI RES and present the framework, which is used to analyze the multiple impacts and effects of RES and to show how the RES development leads and contributes to these impacts and effects. The concept is recommended to be considered in designing a robust energy policy by decision-makers.
Unreplicable state‐dependent effects on start‐box emergence latency in wild‐origin sticklebacks

Animals are predicted to adjust their behaviour in relation to their bodily energetic state. Adjustment can be driven by either positive feedbacks (e.g. increased risk-taking with higher energetic status; “state- dependent safety”) or negative feedbacks (e.g. reduced risk- taking with higher status; “asset protection”). This study investi-gated effects of food restriction and subsequent refeeding on boldness- like behaviour in three- spined sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) and nine- spined sticklebacks ( Pungitius pungitius ). The same experimental design was run in 2 consecutive years, using a start- box emergence test to score behaviour, aiming for an exact replication in the second year. Results indicate that the results from the original and the replicated experiment did not match. Both years there was support for treatment effects, but the effects were qualitatively and quantitatively different. In 2012, the fish on a continuous high ration had longer emergence
This Time Wasn't Different: Responsiveness and Responsibility in the Eurozone between 2007 and 2019

This article investigates the balance between responsiveness and responsibility in France, Germany and Spain between 2017 and 2019. Based on the party-politics literature, the article argues that during crises responsibility may temporarily increase, but that subsequently governments need to base their actions on responsive policy criteria in order to maintain citizens ’ trust. Yet, given the dominance of austerity ideas during this decade and the introduction of a more stringent European ﬁ scal framework, it is questionable whether responsiveness increased after the Eurozone crisis. Analysing original data from the yearly budget speeches of ministers of ﬁ nance, the article ﬁ nds that responsibility dominated budgetary policy-making in the early 2010s and that since 2014 responsiveness has increased, regardless of a country ’ s ﬁ nancial situation. Furthermore, during the crisis responsibility tended to be higher under centre-right cabinets. The article portrays the early 2010s as an episode of ‘ politics in hard times ’ during which governments chose their policy response based on their ideas.
Multi-Step Energy Demand and Generation Forecasting with Confidence Used for Specification-Free Aggregate Demand Optimization

Energy demand and generation are common variables that need to be forecast in recent years, due to the necessity for energy self-consumption via storage and Demand Side Management. This work studies multi-step time series forecasting models for energy with confidence intervals for each time point, accompanied by a demand optimization algorithm, for energy management in partly or completely isolated islands. Particularly, the forecasting is performed via numerous traditional and contemporary machine learning regression models, which receive as input past energy data and weather forecasts. During pre-processing, the historical data are grouped into sets of months and days of week based on clustering models, and a separate regression model is automatically selected for each of them, as well as for each forecasting horizon. Furthermore, the multi-criteria optimization algorithm is implemented for demand scheduling with load shifting, assuming that, at each time point, demand is within its confidence interval resulting from the forecasting algorithm. Both clustering and multiple model training proved to be beneficial to forecasting compared to traditional training. The Normalized Root Mean Square Error of the forecasting models ranged approximately from 0.17 to 0.71, depending on the forecasting difficulty. It also appeared that the optimization algorithm can simultaneously increase renewable penetration and achieve load peak shaving, while also saving consumption cost in one of the tested islands. The global improvement estimation of the optimization algorithm ranged approximately from 5% to 38%, depending on the flexibility of the demand patterns.
Distribution and accumulation of Cy5.5-labeled hydrophobically modified glycol chitosan in mice

The ultimate goal of this study is to assess the accumulation and distribution of hydrophobically modified glycol chitosan (HGC) as a degradable nanoparticle in the body. To understand the movement of degradable nanoparticle HGC in the body, we intravenously injected a dose of 20 mg/kg of Cy5.5-labeled HGC with size ranging from 320 to 400 nm into ICR mice, and measured the amount of fluorescence remaining in blood and several organs at various time intervals. In blood, the level of Cy5.5-labeled HGC increased at 15 min and after 30 min and then decreased gradually and reached a plateau at 28 days. In the tissue we confirmed the presence of nanoparticles at high levels in the order of kidney>liver>submandibular gland until 28 days after injection. However, we did not find the distribution of the particles into brain or testes. These results will provide basic information on HGC as a drug delivery agent.
ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF SOME SELECTED VEGETABLES LEAVES SOLD IN MARKETS

Vegetables are an essential dietary source of nutrients and fiber for the health and wellbeing of human beings. The demand for vegetables has increased substantially in recent years. However, research has linked vegetable consumption with various pathogenic bacteria that are of public health concern. The present study was designed to isolate and identify the bacteriological composition of fluted pumpkin, bitter leaf, and scent leaf commonly sold at various markets in Kogi State. These bacteria were studied using standard microbiological methods. The serial dilution method was employed. The result shows that the three samples of vegetables collected from different vendors contain the microbial load. Bitter leaf has the higher bacteria load, followed by pumpkin leaf with a moderate bacteria load, while scent leaf has the lowest plate count. The bacteria isolated are pseudomonas species, Bacillus, Erwinia spp, streptococcus. The sample contains an unacceptable number of bacteria recommended by the world health organization. Therefore, to safeguard the health of the final consumer, there should be proper washing of vegetables with clean water and disinfect the bacteria with sodium chloride(salt).
Changes in soil fungal community on SOC and POM accumulation under different straw return modes in dryland farming

ABSTRACT We conducted a 2.5-year field experiment to test the effects of straw incorporated evenly into the soil (EIS) on soil fungal community, SOC chemical composition, and particulate organic matter fractions via comparing with no straw returning (CK), straw mulching (SM), straw plowed into the soil (SP), and identified the linkages between soil fungal community as well as organic C accumulation and POM formation. Our results showed that EIS treatment significantly increased the concentrations of SOC and the proportion of carbohydrate C, di-O-alkyl C, and O-alkyl C in SOC structure, increased the mass proportion and OC contents of MA(c)POM and mM-POM in the upper 40 cm of soil. Meanwhile, EIS treatment increased the relative abundance of Ascomycota, Zygomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Dothideomycetes in 0–20 cm depths, and also had the highest relative abundance of Glomeromycetes and Dothideomycetes in the 20–40 cm soil. Also, our study suggests that straw return enhanced the relative abundances of fungi involved in the carbon cycle and sequestration, including Zygomycota, Chytridiomycota, and Glomeromycota, and Ascomycota. The shifts in fungal community structure can accelerate organic C accumulation and the formation of soil particulate organic matter, especially in EIS treatment.
Strength and Durability Characteristics of Coir, Kenaf and Polypropylene Fibers Reinforced High Performance Concrete

ABSTRACT Cement concrete is used in small structure to big multi-storied buildings. It is noteworthy to concentrate on concrete elements and mix ratio to achieve desirable strength with feasible cost of raw material. In this investigation, fibers reinforced concrete specimens (M50 grade) were prepared. The strength and durability were tested and compared with the properties of plain concrete (PC). The fibers such as coir, kenaf, and Polypropylene (PP) were used as reinforcement and the compressive, split tensile, flexural, and durability analysis were performed. The compressive test resulted that the natural fiber-based PC/Coir & PC/PP-Coir specimens displayed the maximum compressive strength of 64.5 and 66 MPa owing to the small density and slighter water up taking properties of coir and PP fiber. The split tensile test showed that the PC/kenaf specimen exhibited the higher split tensile strength of 7.3 MPa due to the presence of kenaf fiber with high young’s modulus. Flexural test reported that the PC/PP-Coir/Kenaf specimen exhibited the higher flexural strength of 7.6 MPa because of reinforcing effect offered by coir, kenaf, and PP fibers. Durability study showed that the PC/PP and PC/PP-coir specimens displayed the minimum weight loss of 1.05 and 2.1% and the minimum loss in compressive strength of 3.4 and 4.6%, respectively, in alkaline medium. It was concluded from this study that the coir fiber could be a suitable candidate to improve the strength and durability of concrete.
Root production in a subtropical pasture is mediated by cultivar identity and defoliation severity

Grasslands occupy significant land area and account for a large proportion of the global soil carbon stock, yet the direct effects of grazing and genotypic composition on relationships between shoot and root production are poorly resolved. This lack of understanding hinders the development of models for predicting root production in managed grasslands, a critical variable for determining soil carbon stocks. We quantified the effects of season-long defoliation treatments on both shoot and root production across 4 cultivars of a widely planted pasture grass species (Paspalum notatum Flüggé) in a common garden setting in South Florida, USA. We found that infrequently applied (4 weekly) severe defoliation (to 5 cm) substantially enhanced shoot production for all cultivars, while severe defoliation reduced root production across cultivars, regardless of frequency. Overall, there was no significant relationship between shoot and root production. Our results showed that above-ground and below-ground productivity are only weakly coupled, suggesting caution against use of simple above-ground proxies to predict variations in root production in grasslands. More broadly, our results demonstrated that improved modeling and management of grasslands for below-ground ecosystem services, including soil carbon sequestration/stocks, must account for intraspecific genetic variation and responses to defoliation management.
Fruit Quality Properties of the Local Apple Varieties of Anatolia

The importance of biochemical content of fruits in human health and nutrition is understood more and more day by day. In this study, new local varieties were added to apple genetic resources and the correlation between biochemical contents and agro-morphological properties of fruits belonging to them was revealed. It was observed that the total phenolics amount varied between 20.13 (“Bag”) mg GAE kg−1 and 80.59 (“Yeşil”) mg GAE kg−1. The highest total antioxidant capacity was determined as 90.96% in “Yeşil” variety. Potassium (K) content, which is among the macronutrients, was determined as the highest value in “Bağ” variety (7993.31 mg kg−1) and in “Zuza” variety (7983.31 mg kg−1). It was determined that the Fe content (iron) varied between as 14.17 mg kg−1 (“Zuza”) and 5.75 mg kg−1 (“Bağ”) and was higher than other micronutrients. In the light of the results obtained in this study, it was concluded that fruits belonging to new local apple varieties are rich in biochemical contents and these varieties can be used as genetic resources in plant breeding studies.