Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of concrete mix air-entrainment applying the sequential pressure method

The purpose of introducing air into the concrete mix is to increase the freeze-thaw and scaling resistance of hardened concrete. The utility of the sequential pressure method ( Super Air Meter - SAM) for assessment of the air entrainment quality was verified by comparing the results obtained with this method with the results of the air-void analysis of hardened concrete. The results of the tests carried out on mixes designed and produced at a laboratory and the mixes produced on an industrial scale during expressway construction are considered. Furthermore, the relationships between the SAM number and the micro air-void content A 300 in hardened concrete and the freeze-thaw and de-icing salt resistance are analysed as part of this research. A clear co-relation between the SAM number, a parameter that characterises the air-entrainment of the concrete mix, and the microvoid content has been demonstrated.
Determinates of Capital Structure in Case of Private Commercial Banks in Ethiopia

This study was conducted on the title determinants of capital structure; evidence from private commercial banks in Ethiopia. To find out what determines capital structure, seven bank specific explanatory variables (Profitability, tangibility, growth, age, tax shield, size and liquidity) was selected and regressed beside the suitable capital structure measure (Debt to Equity Ratio). Fourteen private commercial banks, which had minimum of seven years life were selected for the study. Their audited financial statement from 2013 to 2019 was used as major source of data. Before the analysis of regression model test of CLRM assumptions such as normality, multicollinearity, heteroscedastcity and autocorrelation tests were conducted on the data. After these tests, Hauseman model specification test conducted and its result indicated that Fixed Effect Model was better to test hypotheses that emerge through the review of existing literature. Then inferential statistics regression was done by Fixed Effect Model (FEM). The regression result reveled that profitability, age, tax shield and size had significant effect on leverage. However, among the hypothesized capital structure determinants growth, asset tangibility and liquidity had insignificant effect on capital structure of Ethiopian private commercial bank. In addition, trade-off theory and the pecking order theory explained the capital structure behavior of banking industry in Ethiopia.
Efficacy of Methanolic Leaf Extract of Hyptis suaveolens and Moringa oleifera in the Control of Soil-Borne Pathogens

Aim: Soil-borne diseases are difficult to control because they are caused by pathogens that can survive for long periods in the absence of the normal crop host and often have a wide host range including weeds. This present study was design to assess the antifungal assay dependent effect of methanolic extracts of Hyptis suaveolens and Moringa oleifera on Phytophthora colocasiae and Fusarium oxysporum. Methods: The presence of biologically active ingredients (alkaloid, saponin, tannins, flavonoid, terpenoids, tannins, steroids, hydrogen cyanides, phenols and glycoside) in the leaf extracts was investigated using standard procedures. The antifungal activities of the plant extract were tested against Phytophthora colocasiae and Fusarium oxysporum using disc and well diffusion assays. Results: The results of the phytochemical evaluated showed that H. suaveolens, contained significantly higher alkaloids, saponins, hydrogen cyanide, flavonoids and phenols than M. oleifera, while on the other hand, M. oleifera contained significantly higher terpenoids, tannins, steroids and glycosides. Consequently, H. suaveolens extract similarly recorded significantly (P < 0.05) higher inhibition on the organisms as compared to M. oleifera. The disc diffusion assay method was more Original Research Article Augusta and Nwakaego; ARRB, 35(7): 56-63, 2020; Article no.ARRB. 56851 57 sensitive than the well diffusion assay. H. suaveolens at 100 mg/ml using disc diffusion assay method showed higher inhibition on both P. colocasiae and F. oxysporum. While M. oleifera recorded higher inhibition on F. oxysporum at 50 mg/ml and P. colocasiae at 100 mg/ml using the disc diffusion assay method. MIC was lowest with H. suaveolens (12.5 mg/ml) against F. oxysporum. Conclusion: These results promote the identification of actives substances from these plants for use as lead molecules in the development of new fungicides for the control of Phytophthora colocasiae and Fusarium oxysporum.
REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR AND ITS INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY IN A TROPICAL PALM, ASTROCARYUM MEXICANUM

SUMMARY (1) The reproductive characteristics of a tropical understorey palm, Astrocaryum mexicanum, and the causes of individual variability were observed for 414 adults on six plots during 5 yr. (2) The probability of reproduction is the most plastic of the reproductive characteristics analysed, since it varied between plots, age and years. (3) Individuals appear to respond to an environment that is heterogeneous in time and space since reproductive events were not randomly distributed among them. This probably accounts for the unsynchronized supra-annual seeding behaviour. (4) The reproductive output was correlated with both the spatial location and the leaf area of individual palms which suggests that light may play an important role in controlling seed output. (5) Light gaps and seed predation appear to be the most important selective pressures acting on this species.
A classification method based on linear discriminant analysis and multivariate adaptive spline

—In this paper, a data classification method based on linear discriminant analysis and multivariate adaptive splines is proposed, and this method is a combination of dimension reduction and classification. Firstly, the most effective classification features are determined by linear discriminant analysis. Then, the input variables are divided into intervals by multiple adaptive regression splines (MARS), and the non-linear classification is transformed into the linear classification problem. Finally, classification is realized by perceptron. Experiment results prove that the method is effective both in classification performance and predicting speed.
A comparative study of oral versus intravenous iron in the treatment of moderately anaemic pregnant women

Anaemia is the commonest haematological disorder encountered during pregnancy. The overall mean global figure for the incidence of gestational anemia is 25%. World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that prevalence of anemia in developed and developing countries in pregnant women is 14% and 51% respectively. In India this figure is 65-75%. Anemia is a direct cause of maternal mortality in 20% of cases and indirect cause in 20 to 40% of maternal deaths. In India the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in pregnancy has been reported to be 57.9% (54.6% in urban and 59% in rural) with a wide variation of incidence from state to state. Anaemia is conventionally defined as low haemoglobin concentration resulting in decrease in oxygen carrying capacity of blood. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) uses haemoglobin (Hb) of 10.0-10.9 as mild and 7.0 to 10.0 as moderate anaemia. Centre for Disease Control (CDC), United States of America (USA) has defined anaemia as Hb concentration less than 11 gm/dl in the first and last trimester and less than 10.5 gm/dl in second trimester. WHO defines anaemia in pregnancy as haemoglobin concentration of less than 11 gm/dl and a haematocrit of less than 33%.
Understanding the trends and characteristics of smart urbanism across continents

Lack of understanding across the global north and global south, and with the need for alternative development paths in smart urbanism discourse are issues highlighted by recent smart urbanism research. Therefore, this paper aims to comprehend the trends of smart urbanism across contrasting geographies and to learn about the alternative direction of the development of smart cities. This study applied the research methods of document analysis and case study on the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia. The study showed that the North America corporations (i.e., IBM smarter city) are leading the approach of technology-driven method (TDM) and corporate smart city concept, European scholars and institutions have strong influence on the human-driven method (HDM) approach (i.e., the Amsterdam smart city), while Asian countries are discursively learning and applying smart city’s ideas and practices from North America and Europe. A mixture of approaches are found in Asian countries, such as the TDM approach in China and Malaysia, and the case of a shift of paradigm towards HDM with Singapore. Overall, the authors found that the worldwide trend was dominated by the TDM approach. However, a push towards the HDM approach was also apparent, with the appearance of proposals such as citizen centricity and participation. The results of this study serve as a benchmark on the normative neoliberal politics and an opportunity to nurture humanism aspects. This paper marks a contribution to the phenomenon of contemporary smart urbanism and provides insights for policymakers and stakeholders who wish to work together as co-partners in the quest for a more humanistic smart city.
Occurrence of possible drug related interactions in medical patients in out-patient departments of Pakistan

Background: Data regarding occurrence of drug-drug interactions in Pakistan is rare. In the current study, we have tried to find out the clinical adversity and frequency witnessed in prescriptions of a medical outpatient department. Methods: Patient prescriptions were analyzed for potential drug-drug interactions. A sample of 364 patients, visited outpatient department who were being prescribed at least two drugs simultaneously using a drug interaction program website. Results: The 364 patients (72.8% male, mean age 57.9±15.2 years) were prescribed a median of six drugs (range 213) at OPD visit. Three hundred forty nine patients (95.8%) had at least one potentially interacting drug combination. 2636 potential interactions were seen in the visiting patients. Out of these 124 (4.7%) were of major severity, 1730 (65.6%) moderate and 515 (19.5%). Out of 124 patients with a potential DDI with major severity, no patient was rehospitalized within 2 months after discharge due to a probable drug-related problem associated with the potential DDI. Conclusions: A large percentage of patients were detected having one or more potential drug-drug interactions, using drug interaction detection program. However, the percentage of patients having clinically adverse consequences due to drug-drug interactions appears to be very low.
Effect of different inoculum levels of root knot nematode (Meloidogyne enterolobii) on various growth parameters of tomato plant CV- Bhagya and Kashi Anupam

A glass house pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of different inoculum levels viz.,0, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 second stage juveniles of Meloidogyne enterolobii (J2)/plant for the Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato) plants. grown in sterilised pots. The results indicated that an inoculum level of 500 and above J2/plant significantly reduced the various plant growth parameters (shoot length, root length, fresh shoot weight, fresh root weight, dry shoot weight, dry root weight, number of gall formation and final population of nematodes. An inoculum level of 500 J2 per kg soil and above significantly reduced the various plant growth parameters over uninoculated control and the maximum reduction was obtained at the inoculums level of 8000 larvae of nematode per kg soil. Increase in the inoculum levels of larvae per kg soil decrease the growth parameter of tomato.
Supplementation of phylogenetically correct data by two-species comparison : support for correlated evolution of foraging mode and prey chemical discrimination in lizards extended by first intrageneric evidence

Two-species studies should not be used to infer adaptive relationships between ecological variables, but may be useful to generate hypotheses for comparative testing, to obtain data for comparative analysis, or to obtain information specific to a particular paired comparison. I present a case in which a two-species study was essential to obtaining data for comparative analysis. Measurements of multiple individuals per taxon are needed to provide estimates of variables and their differences, but comparative methods using dichotomous variables cannot themselves demonstrate the existence of true differences among taxa. Previous studies using the concentration of correlated changes test and the method of independent contrasts showed that correlated evolution has occurred in lizards between foraging mode and detection of prey chemicals by tongue-flicking. Active foragers exhibit prey chemical discrimination, but ambush foragers do not. Effects of changes in foraging mode among very close relatives are unknown and more data on changes in foraging mode are needed to confirm and extend the relationship. In a two-species experiment using congeneric lacertid lizards differing in foraging mode, both species discriminated prey chemicals from control substances, but the discrimination was significantly stronger in the active forager. Change in foraging mode was accompanied by rapid change in prey chemical discrimination that could not be detected by correlative methods. Concentration of correlated changes tests including data from the experiment strengthened evidence for correlated evolution between foraging mode and prey chemical discrimination in lizards as a whole and the major subtaxa Scleroglossa and Autarchoglossa. and permitted its first detection in Scincomorpha.
A study on risk factors of abortion in a tertiary care hospital in Thrissur District, Kerala

Abortion is the spontaneous termination of pregnancy before 22 weeks or if the foetus weighs less than 500 gm (WHO). About 10-20% of all clinically recognized pregnancies end up in abortion. There are maternal and foetal factors responsible for abortion. More than 80% of spontaneous abortions occur within the first 12 weeks of gestation. The maternal factors mainly include infections like rubella, herpes simplex, cytomegalovirus infections and systemic diseases like diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism. It also includes congenital malformations of the uterus, cervical impotence and autoimmune disorders. The signs and symptoms of abortion are amenorrhoea, abdominal pain, bleeding per vaginum, dilatation of cervix due to uterine contractions, expulsion of a part of or the entire ovum. Spontaneous abortion is a new issue in terms of its social and economic impact. Today majority of women decide to conceive in their thirties or forties, since they are carrier oriented during the age of maximum fecundity. After the age of 30-35 years, potential fertility declines and the rate of spontaneous abortion increases. Stress, pollutants, smoking etc. also increase the incidence of abortion. Some maternal infections during the early gestational age can result in foetal loss or malformations. The foetus is ABSTRACT
Impact of Lesson Study on Motivation and Achievement in Mathematics of Malaysian Foundation Programme Students

A. Introduction Mathematics teachers, parents and students think that some students have high aptitude in mathematics while some students have low intelligent for learning mathematics but this idea has been resoundingly disapproved. An extensive review of the literature shows that all students are Abstract This quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine the impact of the implementation of lesson study on students' motivation in mathematics and mathematics achievement as well as gender in a public university in Selangor, Malaysia. Seven mathematics lecturers, a physic lecturer and researcher, formed a lesson study group. This group planned and designed five research lessons about the functions focusing on problem-solving. A lecturer was chosen randomly to teach these lessons to his classes as experimental and control groups. In this study, mathematics motivation test (5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very true)) and lecturers developed tests were used to investigate the impact of lesson study on mathematics motivation and achievement. The data were analyzed by using independent t-test, ANOVA test, MANOVA test and non-parametric the Kruskal-Wallis test. The results of this study showed that students in the experimental group obtained better results in both motivation and achievement tests. Also, there is no statistically significant interaction between the effects of educational method and gender on mathematics achievement scores. Furthermore, the results showed that the level of motivation is different among groups by gender, but there were no significant mean differences among groups in any of subscales.
Biological Safety Evaluation of KiOmedine® CM-chitosan, an Innovative Non-animal Carboxymethyl-Chitosan Biomaterial Intended for Injectable Biomedical Applications

When designing innovative biomaterials, biocompatibility is regarded as a prerequisite for safe clinical use in humans. In this study, the biological safety of KiOmedine® CM-chitosan, which is a non-animal carboxymethyl chitosan biomaterial, was evaluated using a large panel of both in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility tests in accordance with the ISO 10993 series. KiOmedine® CM-chitosan was non-cytotoxic and non-genotoxic in vitro. The biomaterial was neither found to be haemolytic nor was it able to potentiate the activation of the central complement component C5a or the inflammatory mediators IL-1β and IL-8 in the presence of human whole blood. Furthermore, no evidence of any significant irritation, sensitization, pyrogenicity, and organ toxicity was detected in specific animal studies conducted with KiOmedine® CM-chitosan, and only minimal local tissue effects were observed after the intra-articular or intra-dermal injection of KiOmedine® CM-chitosan in the rabbit model. KiOmedine® CM-chitosan had minimal potential to induce immunotoxic reactions in the mouse air pouch model. Its biodegradation process was appropriately characterized at the histological level. In summary, our study represents an unprecedented body of work supporting the biological safety evaluation of KiOmedine® CM-chitosan, allowing its use in injectable medical devices.
Impacts of magnetic water treatment on water quality, feeding efficiency and growth performance of common carp in integrated recirculating aquaculture systems

An integrated recirculating aquaculture system (IRAS) is considered as an alternative solution for efficient utilization of available resources, nutrient recycling and maintaining ecological balance. The effects of using magnetized water on the growth performance of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) and water quality parameters were investigated in an IRAS. Six independent IRASs were designed; each system consisted of three tanks: a fish rearing tank, a waste-collection tank and a biological filter tank. An additional crop of macrophyte (Lemna minor) was used as a medium in the biological filter tanks in order to qualify as an IRAS. Two treatments with three replicates were set up in a randomized design. The experimental treatment was supplied with the magnetic field device, while there was no device in the control treatment. The fish growth, feeding efficiency and water quality parameters were measured in all systems. The results revealed that the use of magnetized water in the IRASs increased the specific growth rate of common carp and the growth rate of plants; while, decreased the feed conversion ratio. However, the magnetized water had no effects on the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen. The study suggested that the use of magnetized water in the IRASs could be beneficial as a cost-effective technique to increase the profitability of the system.
A Szilikátipari Tudományos Egyesület lapja

The use of dolomitic aggregate in preparation of cementitious repairing mortar really depends on their mineralogical composition and physico-mechanical properties. The physico-mechanical properties and chemistry of the selected local dolomitic aggregates were evaluated and compared with those of natural siliceous sand minerals. The studied dolomitic aggregates have a convenient chemical composition to be used as a concrete aggregate. Whereas they show relative variations in their physico-mechanical properties especially the grain size distribution, which will of course reflect the characteristics of the repairing mortar mix. The compatibility of some cementitious repair mortars characteristics casted by dolomitic aggregates was assessed. Showed that dolomitic aggregate possess a clear effect on the properties of cementitious mortar rather than the natural siliceous sand. Also, using of this type of aggregates improves the compatibility with most commonly concrete used in Egypt by justification of the cementitious mortar mix with the suitable admixture. Assisted that most of the studied mixes show good compatibility with the casted concrete depending of appropriate composition.
Relevance of mandatory glaucoma screening in all patients from outreach cataract camps referred to a base hospital for cataract surgery

Cataract accounts for 47.8% of global blindness, and 51% of this is in south Asia region including India. The number of cataract surgeries performed per year is close to 4.86 million/year. The number of cataract surgeries performed is steadily rising due to the efforts taken by national and international bodies and various nongovernment organizations pledged to eradicate the blindness caused by cataract.
Mapping seasonal glacier melt across the Hindu Kush
Himalaya with time series SAR

Abstract. Current observational data on Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) glaciers are sparse and characterizations of seasonal melt dynamics are limited. Time series synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery enables detection of reach-scale glacier melt characteristics across continents. We analyze C-band Sentinel-1 A/B SAR time series data, comprised of 32,741 Sentinel-1 A/B SAR images, determine the duration of seasonal glacier melting for 76,831 glaciers (65,108 km2), defined using optical observations, in the HKH across the calendar years 2017–2019. Signals of melt onset and duration are recorded at 90 m spatial resolution and 12-day temporal repeat across 96.62 % (62,907 km2) of the HKH cryosphere. Melt signals persist for more than 40 % of the year at elevations below 4,000 m a.s. l. and in excess of 15 % of each year at elevations exceeding 7,000 m a.s. l. Melt retrievals resemble characteristics of glacio-climatic subregions of the HKH: melt onsets sooner and occurs for a longer portion of each year in the Central and Eastern Himalaya compared to the Western Himalaya and Karakoram regions. Retrievals of seasonal melting span all elevation ranges of significant glacier area in the HKH region, extending greater than 1 km above the maximum elevation of an interpolated 0 oC summer isotherm. Furthermore, high elevation percolation zones are apparent from meltwater retention indicated by signals of delayed refreeze. Time series SAR datasets are suitable to support operational monitoring of glacier surface melt and the development and assessment of surface energy balance models of melt-driven ablation across the high-elevation temperate global cryosphere.