Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leadership Strategies in Enhancing Integration of Information and Communication Technology in Teaching and Learning in Public Teachers’ Colleges in Moshi District, Tanzania

This study was conducted to investigate the leadership strategies in enhancing the integration of information and communication technology in teaching and learning of public teachers’ colleges in Moshi district, Tanzania. The study was guided by Transformational Leadership Theory developed in 1978 by James McGregor Burns. The study employed a mixed research approach under which a convergent research design was used. The target population of the study was 03 public teachers’ college 03 principals, 103 teacher educators, and 768 teacher trainees which make the total population of 874. Probability sampling of simple random sampling and stratified sampling techniques was used to determine the study sample. Questionnaires and an Interview Guide were used as instruments for data collection. The reliability of quantitative instruments was established through Cronbach Alpha; (r=0.92 for teacher trainees’ questionnaires and r=0.90 for teacher educators’ questionnaires). The results show that the extent to which leadership strategies in enhancing ICT integration were reflecting on ICT leadership approaches of ICT modeling, supporting with ICT facilities, inspiring, and evaluating the integration of ICT were positively responded by teacher educators and teacher trainees which conform with transformational leadership theory. However, other leadership strategies in enhancing ICT integration on ICT practices such as team working, encouraging ICT use, motivating, and empowering use of ICT in teaching and learning were responded contrarily by teacher educators and teacher trainees. Because of the variation of responses from teacher trainees to teacher educators, the study concluded that the extent to which the role of leadership strategies used to enhance the integration of ICT in teaching and learning was less effective. The study recommends that principals' capacity building through seminars and workshops especially on transformational and technological leadership skills could help to improve management teams’ practices to enhance the integration of ICT in teaching and learning among teacher educators and teacher trainees.
User Requirements and Willingness To Pay for Traffic Information Systems: Case Study of Sydney, Australia

The field of information provision to motorists has seen remarkable technological innovations in recent years. These techniques are generally classified under advanced traveler information systems (ATISs). These systems are designed to bring travel time savings and congestion alleviation to commuters. In the context of determining who will use this information system, what types of information are required, and how traffic information affects traveler behavior, the user needs and preferences derived from a survey of commuters in Sydney, Australia are described. The attitudinal survey has examined driver attitudes toward radio traffic information systems in particular. It is seen that drivers thought of radio traffic information systems as generally accurate. Drivers revealed that information on dynamic conditions such as traffic entities and road accidents is more desired than information on relatively static conditions such as alternative routes. On the aspect of technology preference, radio has overwhelming support as the preferred delivery system compared with computers and telephones. The results of an analysis of willingness to pay for information are similar to findings from overseas. This particular analysis has been based on an ordered probit model that shows the significance of information system attributes and commuter demographics.
Robust satisficing cooperative control barrier functions for multirobots systems using information‐gap theory

This paper integrates control barrier functions (CBFs) and information‐gap theory to present robust safe controllers for collision avoidance problem in multi‐agent systems with different levels of measurement accuracy. It is assumed that agents have uncertain and inaccurate measurements about the relative distance to neighboring agents. A cooperative framework for the construction of CBFs for each two agents is employed to avoid collision and ensure the safety of the overall system. To maximize the horizon of uncertainty under which the safety of the overall system is satisfied, the information‐gap theory is leveraged to determine the contribution and share of each agent in the construction of CBFs. This results in the highest possible robustness against measurement uncertainty. It is shown that the overall system can tolerate higher measurement uncertainty and safely operate if the agent that is more confident about its measurement contributes more to the construction of the CBF. By employing the proposed approach in constructing CBF, the possible failure of one agent in gathering accurate local data can be compensated by cooperation between agents. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated via performing simulations for multirobot systems.
Friction Reliability Criteria Applied to Horizontal Curve Design of Low-Volume Roads

Design of road horizontal curves usually considers geometric characteristics and surface pavement condition by means of friction, superelevation, and speed equations in a deterministic point of view: a unique radius and superelevation are selected, considering a uniform behavior of drivers and pavement surface condition. However, empirical evidence shows that operating speed usually exceeds design speed when design speed is lower than 100 km/h. This means that the aggregated friction demand exceeds the design friction. The friction threshold and variability are not considered in design at the present time. Therefore, the designer does not know the remaining friction available and cannot estimate the margin of safety provided by the design. This problem is important in low-volume roads (LVRs) because the design speed usually considered is lower than 100 km/h. In this paper a methodology to design horizontal curves for LVRs is proposed, considering the variability of skid resistance, pavement texture, driver behavior, and geometric design elements. Critical speed is obtained for two conditions: consistency between design and operational conditions and consistency between friction thresholds considered for the pavement surface and operational condition. For this purpose, a reliability index is estimated by using the Hasofer–Lind method. Results show that a more realistic design is obtained when an aggregated friction demand based on driver behavior is considered. A good design is obtained when design speed ranges around 60 km/h and the standard deviation of curve radius is lower than 20% of the mean radius.
Link Latency Attack in Software-Defined Networks

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has found applications in different domains, including wired- and wireless networks. The SDN controller has a global view of the network topology, which is vulnerable to topology poisoning attacks, e.g., link fabrication and host-location hijacking. The adversaries can leverage these attacks to monitor the flows or drop them. However, current defence systems such as TopoGuard and TopoGuard+ can detect such attacks. In this paper, we introduce the Link Latency Attack (LLA) that can successfully bypass the systems' defence mechanisms above. In LLA, the adversary can add a fake link into the network and corrupt the controller's view from the network topology. This can be accomplished by compromising the end hosts without the need to attack the SDN-enabled switches. We develop a Machine Learning-based Link Guard (MLLG) system to provide the required defence for LLA. We test the performance of our system using an emulated network on Mininet, and the obtained results show an accuracy of 98.22% in detecting the attack. Interestingly, MLLG improves 16% the accuracy of TopoGuard+.
Vasorin deficiency leads to cardiac hypertrophy by targeting MYL7 in young mice

Vasorin (VASN) is an important transmembrane protein associated with development and disease. However, it is not clear whether the death of mice with VASN deficiency (VASN−/−) is related to cardiac dysfunction. The aim of this research was to ascertain whether VASN induces pathological cardiac hypertrophy by targeting myosin light chain 7 (MYL7). VASN−/− mice were produced by CRISPR/Cas9 technology and inbreeding. PCR amplification, electrophoresis, real‐time PCR and Western blotting were used to confirm VASN deficiency. Cardiac hypertrophy was examined by blood tests, histological analysis and real‐time PCR, and key downstream factors were identified by RNA sequencing and real‐time PCR. Western blotting, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy analysis were used to confirm the downregulation of MYL7 production and cardiac structural changes. Our results showed that sudden death of VASN−/− mice occurred 21–28 days after birth. The obvious increases in cardiovascular risk, heart weight and myocardial volume and the upregulation of hypertrophy marker gene expression indicated that cardiac hypertrophy may be the cause of death in young VASN−/− mice. Transcriptome analysis revealed that VASN deficiency led to MYL7 downregulation, which induced myocardial structure abnormalities and disorders. Our results revealed a pathological phenomenon in which VASN deficiency may lead to cardiac hypertrophy by downregulating MYL7 production. However, more research is necessary to elucidate the underlying mechanism.
Product acquisition management: Current industry practice and a proposed framework

Remanufacturing requires that used products (cores) be obtained from the enduser at the end of their current life cycle so that the value-added may be recovered and the products returned to functional use again. The acquisition of cores to be remanufactured in such recoverable manufacturing systems is a complex set of activities that requires careful coordination to avoid the uncontrolled accumulation of core inventory, or unacceptable levels of customer service. The authors report on current industry practice via an extensive survey of North American remanufacturing firms. The authors propose a formal framework for Product Acquisition Management (PrAM) to coordinate, monitor, and provide an interface between reverse logistics and production planning and control activities. Finally, a series of managerial guidelines for the organization of PrAM activities is proposed. We conclude that managers should take actions that consistently reduce the variance inherent in a remanufacturing environment.
Can we Synthesise Different Development Theories?

Different ideas of ‘development’ provide different recommendations for socio-political action. Because of this self-evident fact, an attempt is made to bring together antagonistic systems of understanding of ‘development’ from an evolutionary perspective in a discursive manner, ultimately to gain greater acceptance for the resulting basic strategies in different camps. Attitudes that are either optimistic or critical regarding the chances of ‘development’ (so-called ‘preanalytic visions’) are described on the basis of (i) literature (Section 2) and (ii) data (Section 3) and the resulting recommendations for action are compared with each other. As an attempt at mediation between both paradigms, an original conception inspired by evolutionary thinking is proposed here: based on the data structures of the author's ‘Global Change Data Base’ (GCDB), a long-term dynamic of global techno-socio-economic development can be assumed which is characterised by a succession of initially growing and then saturating structural parameters. Particularly in the energy industry and land use, such a sequence of initially budding, then blossoming and finally maturing development phases (= ‘blossoming evolution’) seems to be present if the data sets of all states are analysed in the long term (Section 4). A thinking in transitions (Section 5, 6) thus appears justified, appropriate and helpful. In this sense, any strategic climate or development policy measure is based on an already ongoing (rolling) global structural change. In the light of the concept of ‘blossoming evolution,’ it therefore seems helpful (as well as easier to implement) to reinforce or mitigate such alreadyoccurring evolutionary dynamics in a suitable way in order to come as close as possible to the goals of sustainable global development. Social Evolution & History / September 2021 80 Summing up, this text suggests that any developmental measures should be placed in a suitable context of evolutionary autopoietic dynamics, which is in any case driving history.
IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING AMONG CHILDREN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Background: Coronavirus pandemic represents a huge threat and phenomenal risks on mental and emotional wellness among children. This systematic review expects to integrate academic research literature that provides details regarding the impact of COVID-19 on emotional wellbeing and mental status among children. Methods: A systematic research engine was escorted on PubMed, Proquest, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar with keywords: Children, COVID-19, Mental Status, Psychological Status from December 2019 to 18 November 2020 following the PRISMA guidelines. Articles were chosen dependent on the predetermined eligibility criteria. The included articles to review used the Quality Assessment Tool Adapted from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Results: A total of 17,059 records were identified using the keywords. After removal of duplicates and initial screening, seven articles met the inclusion criteria of COVID-19 influence on mental and emotional wellbeing among children. The research design was a longitudinal and cross-sectional online survey with the children age range was 3 – 18 years old. Conclusions: COVID-19 Pandemic has a significant influence on mental and emotional wellbeing among children. Some children experienced depressive indication, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, touchy and easy to get irritated. Limitations: Online survey generalized the results, younger children might need assistance from parents during filling up the questionnaire, small sampling size.
Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking Study of Zhishi-Baizhu Herb Pair in the Treatment of Gastric Cancer

Objective This study aimed to investigate the possible mechanism of the Zhishi and Baizhu herb pair in the treatment of gastric cancer by means of network pharmacology and molecular docking and to provide a theoretical basis for experiments and clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine for treating gastric cancer. Methods The main active chemical components of Zhishi and Baizhu were screened through Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database and selected by using the thresholds of oral bioavailability ≥30% and drug-likeness ≥18%. The targets of Zhishi and Baizhu were obtained from TCMSP, Therapeutic Targets Database (TTD), and the DrugBank database. The corresponding genes of the targets were retrieved from the UniProt database, and the gastric cancer targets were obtained from the GeneCards database and TTD. Subsequently, the networks were built between the main drug components, drug targets, and gastric cancer targets. Then, the enrichment analyses of GO and KEGG were applied to predict the potential roles of gastric cancer pathogenesis via the R package clusterProfiler. Finally, molecular docking was used to determine the affinity between the targets and components. Results Twenty-seven main active components were predicted from the Zhishi-Baizhu herb pair, and a total of 120 intersection genes were screened from 303 potential medicine genes and 1,839 disease genes. The enrichment included the PI3K-Akt and IL-17 signaling pathways, and the network analysis showed that the Zhishi-Baizhu herb pair acted on seven key targets, namely, AKT1, MMP9, IL-6, CCND1, BCL2, MTOR, and MDM2 (where they played a role in treating gastric cancer). Molecular docking showed that luteolin and naringenin could stably bind to the targets. Conclusion The possible mechanisms of the components of the Zhishi-Baizhu herb pair in treating gastric cancer might be related to luteolin and naringenin, which intervened with the targets AKT1, MMP9, IL-6, CCND1, BCL2, MTOR, and MDM2, and are linked with the PI3K-Akt and IL-17 signaling pathways. This knowledge will lay a solid foundation for further experimental and clinical studies.
You can tell it works – Experiences from using the VIPS practice model in primary healthcare

Introduction Person-centred care is a philosophy rather than a method ready for implementation and utilization in daily clinical work. Internationally, few methods for person-centred care have been widely adopted in clinical dementia care practice. In Norway, the VIPS practice model is one that is commonly used for the implementation and use of person-centred care in primary healthcare. Method Nursing home physicians, managers and leaders in the municipalities, care institutions and domestic nursing care services were eligible for inclusion if their workplace had implemented and used the VIPS practice model for a minimum of 12 months. Individual interviews were conducted via Facetime, Skype or telephone and analysed with qualitative content analysis. Findings In all, 20 respondents were included: one manager of health and care services in the municipality, six managers and leaders working in domestic care or daytime activity centres and 10 managers/leaders and three physicians working in nursing homes. Two global categories emerged: category 1: Change in staff’s professional reasoning with two sub-categories: (a) an enhanced professional level in discussions and (b) a change in focus from task to person; and category 2: Changes in the clinical work, with three sub-categories: (a) effective interventions, (b) a person-centred work environment and (c) changes in cooperation between stakeholders. Conclusion Regular use of the VIPS practice model appeared to change the work culture for the benefit of both service users and frontline staff. Increased cooperation between frontline staff, nurses, physicians and next of kin was described. Staff were more focused on the needs of the service users, which resulted in care interventions tailored to the needs of the individual with dementia, loyalty to care plans and fewer complaints from next of kin.
An approach to realize higher power PWM AC controller

PWM controlled AC controllers exhibit difficulties in the commutation of inductive load current from one bidirectional switch to another due to finite switch on/off times. A four step switching strategy for repeated on/off operation of bidirectional switches in an AC controller is proposed. The approach permits safe transition of inductive load current at all power factors from one bidirectional switch to another, even in the presence of source side stray inductance. Results from an experimental prototype AC controller coupled to an inductive load are discussed. <<ETX>>
PENGARUH SALES PROMOTION TERHADAP KEPUTUSAN PENGGUNA KARTU KREDIT BNI (Survei Pada Dosen FPIPS UPI Pengguna Kartu kredit BNI’46)

Tingginya persaingan bisnis kartu kredit, serta semakin banyaknya tawaran program sales promotion yang dilakukan para penerbit kartu kredit selain kartu kredit BNI mengakibatkan besarnya pangsa pasar dan banyaknya jumlah kartu yang beredar. Dari data Top Brand Indeks dalam Marketing/Edisi Khusus/I/2008 yang terdiri atas tiga variabel, yaitu Mind share, market hare, and commitment share, tahun 2006-2007 kartu kredit BNI tidak mengalami kenaikan yang signifikan dan tetap pada angka 11,1%. Sedangkan memasuki pertengahan 2008 kartu kredit BNI naik 0,3% namun secara posisi turun satu peringkat dibawah Mandiri. Mengingat begitu ketatnya persaingan di bisnis ini, sangat sulit untuk meningkatkan pangsa pasar maupun membuat calon nasabah menggunakan kartu kredit. Salah satu cara yang dilakukan Bank BNI yaitu dengan melakukan sales promotion yang dirancang untuk mendorong atau menstimulus para nasabah untuk segera melakukan pembelian. Sehingga diharapkan dapat meningkatkan jumlah transaksi dan memberikan manfaat yang optimal bagi perusahaan. Berdasarkan permasalahan tersebut, maka diadakan penelitian mengenai pengaruh sales promotion terhadap keputusan penggunaan kartu kredit BNI’46. Penelitian ini mengambil objek Dosen FPIPS UPI pengguna kartu kredit BNI’46. Objek penelitian yang menjadi variabel eksogen adalah sales promotion meliputi beberapa dimensi yaitu diskon , hadiah , kerjasama , cicilan , tarik tunai . Kemudian objek penelitian yang menjadi variabel endogen adalah keputusan penggunaan yang meliputi beberapa dimensi yaitu pemilihan merek, pemilihan produk, pemilihan penyalur, waktu pembelian dan jumlah pembelian. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif dan verifikatif juga explanatory survey dengan teknik simple random sampling menggunakan skala semantic defferensial . Selain itu, karena penelitian ini dilakukan dalam kurun waktu kurang dari satu tahun maka metode penelitian ini menggunakan metode cross sectional . Data yang digunakan adalah data primer dan dan data sekunder, sedangkan teknik analisis data yang digunakan adalah analisis jalur ( Path Analysis ). Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukan pengaruh sales promotion terhadap keputusan penggunaan kartu kredit BNI’46 adalah sebesar 71,1% dengan tingkat pengaruh positif. Oleh karena itu, saran untuk kartu kredit BNI’46, hendaknya bisa meningkatkan serta memperbaiki program sales promotion , guna meningkatkan transaksi yang dilakukan pemegang kartu kredit. Kata Kunci: Sales Promotion dan Keputusan Pengguna
The Food and Health Environment in Junior Secondary Schools in Urban Burkina Faso: A Cross-Sectional Study of Administrators, Food Vendors and Early Adolescents

School enrolment rates have increased globally, making the school environment a unique setting to promote healthy nutrition and eating outcomes among early adolescents. In this cross-sectional study, we describe the food and health environment of junior secondary schools in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, West Africa). We evaluated the food and health environment using three components: (1) the implementation of health-related policies or guidelines in the schools, (2) the provision of health, nutrition and water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH) services in the schools, and (3) the quality of the school food environment, including foods sold by vendors. We used stratified random sampling to recruit 22 junior secondary schools from the five Ouagadougou districts in 2020. Trained fieldworkers collected standardized questionnaire data from 19 school administrators, 18 food vendors, and 1059 in-school adolescents. We report that only 7 out of 19 school administrators were aware of existing health-related policies and guidelines at their school and only 3 schools had a school health and nutrition curriculum in place. The overall provision of health, nutrition and WASH services was low or inadequate. Likely because of the lack of school canteens, 69% of the students bought snacks and unhealthy foods from food vendors. There is a critical need to improve the food and health environment of junior secondary schools in urban Burkina Faso.