Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Recommendations in Social Media on Purchase Intentions of Generations Y and Z

The aim of this study is to explore how the impact of recommendations in social media on intention to purchase varies between generations Y and Z. The research focuses on two types of online recommendations, namely online reviews and opinion leaders’ recommendations, and e-WOM, which refers to recommendations made by followers. It also aims to examine which of the two types predominates among generations. Based on various studies, a theoretical research model was developed as well as quantitative and qualitative research was employed. The research findings supported the idea that social media recommendations have an influence on purchasing intentions of consumers, however, the main managerial applications of this study are connected with the differences among consumers. Online reviews had been an influential source of information for Generation Y; however, it is losing its influential power towards shaping purchasing intentions. E-WOM is still important, thus brands and retailers are advised to develop and maintain branded communities in social media, encourage their consumers to share feedback not only in social media, but also in rating websites, apps and services. Retailers are advised to segment their target audience very carefully, as differences in generations’ social media habits and information adoption exist.
The Effect of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) on Diet Induced Hyperlipidemia and Tissue Histology in Adult Female Wistar Rats: A Biochemical and Histopathological Study

The study is aimed at determining the atheroprotective property of ginger (Zingiber officinale) aqueous extract to rats fed with a high-fat diet. Each group consisted of 5 rats. Group 1 represent the control group and received normal rat pellets; groups 2-5 were maintained on high-fat diet for 6 weeks to establish hyperlipidemia. Groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 received distilled water, distilled water, 400, 500 and 600 mg/kg (body weight) Zingiber officinale respectively for 4 weeks. Serum concentrations of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) were determined using standard biochemical methods. Histologic examination of tissues was by Hematoxylin-Eosin staining technique. Data were analyzed using Student’s t-test and P<0.05 was considered significant. A decrease in the mean concentrations of TG, TC, low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and increase in HDL-C concentration of each of the treatment groups (3, 4, 5) were observed when compared with that of group 2. In rats fed high-fat diet, histologic abnormalities were observed for the heart, liver, and kidney which were not adequately corrected by ginger treatment. Results suggest that at dosage levels studied, aqueous ginger extract ameliorated biochemical but not histologic consequences of the high-fat diet.
Associations Between Emotional Regulation, Risk Taking, and College Adaptation

Emotional regulation can be best defined as a socially acceptable emotional response to experiences and circumstances of the everyday human experience. Emotional regulation (ER) plays a major role in handling stress, adaptively, in the collegiate lifestyle. This research examined the associations between emotional regulation, risktaking, and college adaptation among 96 students at a mid-sized university in Colorado. The online-surveying website included five different measures of emotional regulation, college adaptation, and risk-taking. Results showed difficulties with emotional regulation positively correlate more with expressive suppression and negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal. The adaptive strategy of cognitive reappraisal had a positive relationship with college adaptation, while ER difficulties negatively predicted college adjustment. Ethical risk taking was negatively correlated with college adaptation but was not found to be a mediating variable between ER and college adaptation. Future research should continue to examine the associations among these constructs to inform interventions that can facilitate a healthy transition and adaptation to college.
Bioactive compounds and in vitro antioxidant activity of pulps from fruits from the Brazilian atlantic forest

The fruits belonging to the family Myrtaceae are known sources of compounds with functional characteristics. Nevertheless, the studies are focused only on some species of this family. In this sense, we aimed to quantify the bioactive compounds present in the pulps of cambuci, feijoa, uvaia and grumixama; to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant capacity of each one and to correlate the contribution of these bioactive compounds with the antioxidant activity of each fruit pulp. For this, the compounds ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and flavonoids were quantified for the pulps of cambuci, feijoa, uvaia, and grumixama, as well as the in vitro antioxidant capacity by the methods DPPH and ABTS. The results were evaluated by multivariate statistical techniques. The pulps present good antioxidant potential, the one from cambuci presented the highest values for antioxidant activity given by the method DPPH (61.86 μg of Trolox g-1), that from uvaia was prominent by the presence of ascorbic acid (85.40 ascorbic acid 100 g-1) and that from feijoa, by the flavonoid contents (62.45 mg quercetin g-1) and phenolic compounds (10.21 mg gallic acid equivalent g–1). A correlation was observed between pulp antioxidant capacity and the contents of ascorbic acid and carotenoids; on the other hand, the phenolic compounds and flavonoids little contributed for the anti-free radical activity of the methods DPPH and ABTS.
Opinion Dynamics and Disagreements on Financial Networks

We propose a new measure of disagreement based on connectedness, which generalizes the disagreement index introduced in Billio et al. (2018). Building on the lifting approach in Hendrickx (2014), we extend Billio et al. (2018) to signed networks, which allows us to consider more general consensus dynamics and disagreement with antagonistic behaviour. Synthetic and real-world financial networks of serial correlation are considered for illustrating the new measure and for studying opinion dynamics and convergence to consensus on prices for financial assets.
SURVEY OF SOME PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST CERTAIN HUMAN FUNGAL PATHOGENS

Antifungal agents (A.f.A.) play an important role in the treatment of human serious diseases. Therefore, A.f. A. from natural sources was preferred than that synthetic compounds. Methanol, methanol: water; (1:1), water, chloroform and benzene extracts of thirty two plant organs; sixteen desert and sixteen cultivated plant organs were assessed against forty six human fungal pathogenic isolates; twelve (yeast), two (yeast like fungi) and thirty two (filamentous fungi). From the five assessed extracts, chloroform extracts exhibit the most significant activity followed by benzene, methanol: water; (1:1) and methanol, while, water extracts exhibited the least activity. Chloroform extracts revealed the highest inhibitory effect against the mycelial growth of the human fungal isolates. Thymus serpyllum L. (desert plant) andAnethum graveolens (cultivated plant) were active against Aspergillus tamarii 1 andPenicillium marneffeiisolated from eyes andblood, respectively. Scientifically, this study recommended the use of these plant extracts as a potent antifungal agent after their purification and identification.
Labor Demand Dynamics in Costa Rica

El presente documento estudia los determinantes de la demanda laboral de la economia costarricense, para lo cual se utilizan datos a nivel de firma. Ademas, describe el empleo formal mediante un conjunto de hechos estilizados. Los resultados sugieren que: (i) la teoria neoclasica del empleo se cumple, (ii) los salarios son un determinante mas fuerte de la demanda laboral en la industrias manufactureras y de construccion, (iii) el nivel de empleo es mas persistente en las firmas grandes, (iv) las firmas mas grandes y tecnologicas ajustan en mayor medida su planilla ante cambios en salarios e ingresos y (v) la demanda laboral costarricense es mas sensible a cambios en los salarios pero menos a cambios en la produccion que la de economias similares.
Validation of a Semantic Search Engine for Academic Resources on Engineering Teamwork

Obtaining evidence on the acquisition of the teamwork competence, from students throughout their training, is demanded by both accrediting agencies of High Education degrees and future employers. This competence has been, and still is, of great importance in general and in degrees in engineering in particular. Based on previous research studies, evidence to evaluate teamwork competence acquisition is classified in three dimensions: (i) the individual dimension, acquired by each team member; (ii) the group dimension, composed of results from each teamwork; and (iii) the result dimension, which consists of deliverable products throughout the teamwork process. One of the methods which takes the three dimensions into account, the one that helps train and evaluate the teamwork competence, is the ‘‘Comprehensive Training Model of the Teamwork Competence’’ method. In this paper, we will show that through this method, more than 50 teams have generated evidence which can be used as learning resources. All this evidence has been stored and organized (through an ontology) in a semantic repository. The generated evidence is retrieved by using an inference engine through the metadata of ontology. This study, which has validated the resources obtained from the repository, was relevant for a specific information demand. To this end, results automatically obtained by the search engine were comparedwith thosemanually found by teachers who are experienced in the teamwork competence.
The corporate credit rating changes and firm returns in a transitional economy: The case of South Africa

Background: Investors depend on rating agencies to provide an independent assessment of the ability of companies operating in the transition economy to meet their debt obligations. Any change in a firm’s credit rating conveys informed signals about the financial health of the firm and that information should offer markets better knowledge about the future prospects of the firm’s ability to pay creditors and equity holders. What we do not know is the magnitude of the impact of credit rating change on the stock yields of companies operating in a transitional and risky economy like South Africa. The literature indicates that the amount of influence that a rating agency has on equity returns is ambiguous. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine whether companies’ share prices react to a change in credit rating. The study also investigates the financial risk factors that differentiate between credit rating downgrades and upgrades. Methods: The event study methodology was utilised to measure the abnormal returns of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) that had a credit rating change between 2005 and 2015. Logistic regression was used to establish the financial factors influencing the direction of credit rating change. Results: We found that there was no significant impact evident on equity prices when companies’ credit rating upgrades were announced by the credit rating agencies, indicating that the upgrades are largely anticipated by the market at the time they are announced. However, the market reacts significantly negatively when companies’ credit rating downgrades are announced, suggesting that only credit rating downgrades contain relevant pricing information. The finding implies that the credit rating downgrades may lead to disinvestment from the economy, leading to deterioration in macroeconomic indicators in the country within which the firm operates. Furthermore, factors, including interest cover and firm earnings, are significant in differentiating between credit rating upgrades and downgrades, implying that debt issuers in South Africa can manage their credit rating by managing specific financial risk factors. Conclusion: In an emerging and transitional economy like South Africa, the market reacts significantly negatively to credit rating downgrades, just as they do in developed countries like the USA. Stock prices react negatively to credit rating downgrades because credit rating agencies convey adverse private information about a company through these downgrades.
Oral health knowledge and sources of information among male secondary school children in Riyadh

The aim of the present study was to determine the oral health knowledge and sources of information in male secondary school children in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The information on oral health knowledge and sources of information was collected through a specially designed self-administered questionnaire. A total of 605 randomly selected male secondary school children from six schools completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the children was 17.0 years (SD 1.4, range 15 to 21 years). A great majority (91.4%) of the children was aware that good dental health is important for good general health. Majority (60.5%) of the children correctly thought that teeth should be cleaned after each meal, however, more than one-fourth (28.4%) of the children reported that no one taught them how to clean their teeth. More than one-third (39.5%) of children thought that one must visit a dentist only in case of pain in the teeth. A great majority (94.5%) of the children knew that sweets (chocolates/candies) could cause tooth decay. However, 40.2% of children were not aware of cariogenic potential of soft drinks. A high percentage (80.4%) of children knew that the best way to maintain optimum gingival health was to clean their teeth daily. Dentists were the most popular (34.2%) source of oral health information followed by media (32.2%) and parents/grandparents (23.8%). Only 1.8% children reported their teachers as source of oral health information. It could be concluded that these school children need further oral health information, and that there is a need to reinforce the role of school teachers in enhancing school children’s oral health knowledge.
Effect of tetramethylpyrazine on growth performance, Campylobacter jejuni carriage and endogenous antimicrobial peptides in rabbits

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) supplementation on growth performance, Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) carriage and antimicrobial peptides in the epithelial tissue of caecum and skin in rabbits. Five treatments included control and C. jejuni challenge with the addition of TMP at 0, 50, 100 or 150 mg/kg of diet. The trial lasted for 35 days and C. jejuni challenge occurred on first day of feeding trial. The results showed that C. jejuni challenge worsened (P < 0.05) feed intake, body weight gain and feed efficiency, whereas TMP supplementation partially compensated (P < 0.05) growth performance. C. jejuni populations in the caecal content and on the skin were decreased (P < 0.05) in the treatments containing TMP. The mRNA levels of antimicrobial peptides, including defensin neutrophil peptide 4, macrophage cationic peptide 2, galectin 3 and cathelicidin were also decreased (P < 0.05) by C. jejuni challenge while they were increased (P < 0.05) with supplemental TMP. Linear and quadratic trends (P ≤ 0.012) of the three doses of TMP were found in growth performance, linear trends (P ≤ 0.049) in C. jejuni carriage, and linear and quadratic trends (P ≤ 0.012) in galectin 3. The results suggest that TMP can partially protect from C. jejuni infection by decreasing C. jejuni carriage and activating epithelial antimicrobial peptides.
The study of grit in engineering education research: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT Research on the role of grit – defined as both perseverance and passion for long-term goals – on human performance has been conducted for the past decade. It has been suggested that this non-cognitive factor is a better predictor of students’ retention than traditional academic measures. These findings hold relevance for engineering education research but studies on this area are still scarce. This paper provides a systematic review of the current state of research on grit and its correlates in engineering higher education research. Publications were identified using three types of databases specific to engineering education; a final set of 31 relevant records was analysed by type of population, methods, research topics and main results. Most of the reviewed studies implemented quantitative methodologies to assess grit and also used one of the two versions of Duckworth’s Grit scale. Key findings are that in engineering education research, both the conceptualisation of grit and research reporting procedures have been inconsistent. Such inconsistency hinders interpretation of the impact of grit in engineering education. In response, new research avenues and best practices for reporting are proffered.
Impact of foreign direct investment, trade openness and economic institutions on growth in emerging countries:

This article investigates the role of economic institutions and economic openness in the growth of a specific emerging economy – Vietnam. The data from Vietnamese 63 provinces in the period of 2005-2015 have been collected to examine the influences of institutional quality on the inward FDI, trade and growth. By employing the system GMM estimators, our main findings show that, first, the combined effect of inward FDI with trade openness has a substitute effect on the economic growth while they have a positive impact taken separately. This article discusses this interesting aspect. Second, economic institutions significantly influence the combined effects of foreign direct investment with trade openness in improving economic growth.
Studies on the Productive Traits and Relationship between Breeds of Cattle (Friesian Bunaji Cross, Bunaji and Sokoto Gudali) Using Blood Biochemical Polymorphism

We studied the blood haemoglobin polymorphism and activity in relation to body morphology and milk traits in Nigerian indigenous breeds of cattle. A total of 150 animals, 50 per breed of the Bunaji, Friesian X Bunaji and Gudali were used to study the relationship between breeds. Variables measured were BW: Body weight (Kg); BL: Body Length (Cm); HW: Height at withers (cm); CW: Chest width (cm); HG: Heart Girth (cm); Rumwi: Rump width (cm); TL: Teat Length (cm); RUH: Rear Udder Height (cm); UC: Udder Circumference (cm); TY: Total Yield (Litres); ADY: Average Daily Yield (Litres/day) and LL: Lactation Length (days) and blood protein polymorphism of the Haemoglobin. Observed results showed overall frequencies of 0.62 (HbA) and 0.48 (HbB). Higher Original Research Article Umar et al.; AJBGMB, 3(1): 13-21, 2020; Article no.AJBGMB. 52791 14 frequencies of the A allele (0.52, 0.54 and 0.68) were obtained respectively for the Bunaji, Friesian X Bunaji and Gudali cattle in the Haemoglobin locus. Study of blood protein polymorphism and productivity indicated significant (p<0.05) influence of the haemoglobin. There is a need for a genetic study using other proteins and at DNA level to compliment the results arisen from morphometric differentiation of the two most populous Nigerian breeds of cattle in the NAPRI herd.
Where Is the Clean Air? A Bayesian Decision Framework for Personalised Cyclist Route Selection Using R-INLA

Exposure to air pollution in the form of fine particulate matter ( PM 2.5) is known to cause diseases and cancers. Consequently, the public are increasingly seeking health warnings associated with levels of PM 2.5 using mobile phone applications and websites. Often, these existing platforms provide one-size-fits-all guidance, not incorporating user specific personal preferences. This study demonstrates an innovative approach using Bayesian methods to support personalised decision making for air quality. We present a novel hierarchical spatio-temporal model for city air quality that includes buildings as barriers and captures covariate information. Detailed high resolution PM 2.5 data from a single mobile air quality sensor is used to train the model, which is fit using R-INLA to facilitate computation at operational timescales. A method for eliciting multi-attribute utility for individual journeys within a city is then given, providing the user with Bayes-optimal journey decision support. As a proof-of-concept, the methodology is demonstrated using a set of journeys and air quality data collected in Brisbane city centre, Australia.
A Dynamic Strategical Plan to Strengthen Food Security

This study aims to build a strategical planning to improve the agricultural sector in Subang Regency, West Java Province especially in accordance to central government’s establishment of Subang as one of Indonesian national granary to strengthen Indonesian food security. The research method used was the Location Quotient (LQ) method to determine the leading sector combined with the vision and mission of Subang Regency. The secondary data obtained from the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistic was used supported by various previous researches as well as government regulations. The conclusion in this research is based on the LQ calculation shows that agricultural sector is the leading sector in Subang Regency with the highest LQ value. Therefore, it can be concluded to develop agricultural sector, a strategical planning in the form of developments model supported by both private and government sectors. The impact of this research is built into a model and is expected to become a useful input for local government to develop the agricultural sector in Subang Regency through regulations from Subang’s Government. Keywords—Agriculture, Economic Development, Subang Regency, National Granary
Indigenous Knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction: The Tales of Three Islands (San Miguel, Camotes and Alabat) in the Philippines

The importance of indigenous knowledge in reducing risk from disasters and natural calamities has been widely discussed in the social sciences by scholars arguing for integrative frameworks and participatory processes. This type of knowledge is vital for archipelagic developing countries, such as the Philippines, situated in a geographical area exposed to natural hazards. However, despite its potential contribution to disaster prevention, mitigation, response, rehabilitation and recovery, along with possible combination strategies with western scientific knowledge towards reducing vulnerability and disaster risk management, the literature on the integration of specific communities' indigenous knowledgebased disaster preparedness and adaptation is still limited. The novel contribution of this article is in the discussion of the unique indigenous knowledge identified in the cases of San Miguel Island, Camotes Island and Alabat Island, which is utilized even up to the present. Particularly, this study identifies substantial aspects of indigenous knowledge that contribute to disaster risk reduction in the three selected cases. Findings reveal myriad indigenous knowledge pertaining to intensity, height, direction and movement of ocean waves; intensity of winds; sudden surfacing of deep-sea creatures and unease of animals; different patterns of clouds, darkening of skies and foggy horizons, among others. In closely examining indigenous knowledge, this study sheds new light by providing meaningful insights for its contribution to disaster preparedness.