Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gasification of wastes: The impact of the feedstock type and co‐gasification on the formation of volatiles and char

A gasification pilot plant was built up in order to investigate the influence of both feedstock type and co‐gasification on the distribution and composition of the products. The results showed that at the same process condition, different feedstocks could result in different product yields. For instance, the highest gas yield was obtained from tire gasification, while the lowest one belonged to weed gasification. The characterization of the products showed the presence of different components and functionalities in the samples produced. In addition, the co‐gasification of the feedstocks resulted in the products with different specifications than single feeding, proving the existence of different reaction pathways. This means that feedstocks and their derivatives could interact with each other and resulted in nonproportional yields and composition for the char, tar, and gaseous products in comparison with the products from the gasification of the single feedstocks. As an example, the tar from co‐gasification had a lower content of acids but a higher content of amines and amides. This confirmed that co‐gasification influenced the reaction network significantly, impacting the formation of gases, tar, and char, originated from the cross‐interaction among the reaction intermediates derived from the pyrolysis/gasification of the various feedstocks.
An Investigation of the Correlation among Efficacy Sources, Students’ Self-Efficacy and Performance in Reading and Writing Skills: Bahir Dar University in Focus

The aim of this study was to find out the correlation among sources of self-efficacy, selfefficacy and performance in reading and writing skills of Bahir Dar University students (N=106). In addition, the degree to which the reading and writing efficacy beliefs and performance differ as a function of gender was examined. To this end, two instruments (questionnaires and tests) and three statistical tools (correlation, t-test and regression) were employed. The data analysis revealed that there exists significantly strong positive relationship between writing efficacy and writing performance. Likewise, the reading efficacy and the corresponding performance of students showed significant positive correlation. With regard to gender, males reported stronger writing and reading efficacy than females. Males also outperformed significantly in both reading and writing tests. The multiple linear regression analyses for the full sample indicate that efficacy sources collectively predicted the self efficacy beliefs of students in writing and reading. It was, however, only mastery experience, while other sources were controlled, which could significantly predict writing and reading self-efficacy. Others, with the exception of social persuasion for writing efficacy, also, though non-significant, could modestly influence students’ capability beliefs of both skills. Findings of this study are consistent with the tenets of social cognitive theory. As theorized, students’ capability beliefs are positively correlated with their writing and reading performance. In the other phase of the investigation, mastery experience, among the four sources, accounted for the greatest proportion of the variance in writing and reading efficacy of students.
Obesity Prevention Among American Indian Adults: Impact Evaluation of a Multi-level, Multi-component Intervention

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . v LIST OF TABLES . xv LIST OF FIGURES . xvii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.2 Summary of dissertation chapters . 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK . 4 2.1 Literature Review . 4 2.1.1 Obesity and chronic disease in AIAN populations . 4 2.1.2 Burden of disease in the general U.S. and AIAN populations . 7 2.1. 3 Role of Nutrition in Obesity . 10 2.1. 4 Role of Physical Activity in Obesity . 11 2.1. 5 Physical and Social Environmental Influence on Obesity . 12 2.1. 6 Potential of Food Store Programs for Obesity Intervention . 13 2.1. 7 Children as Change Agents . 14 2.1. 8 Potential for Small Behavior Change . 14 2.1. 9 Obesity Prevention Interventions in American Indians . 15 Table 2.1 . 21 REFERENCES . 22 CHAPTER 3: THE OPREVENT INTERVENTION . 38
English for Specific Purposes in the Digital Era: What Has Changed? Interview with Vijay Bhatia

Vijay Kumar Bhatia retired from his role as a professor at the City University of Hong Kong and is now Visiting Professor at the Hellenic American University in Athens, and Adjunct Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has extensive experience of teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels over a period exceeding 50 years in various universities. He has supervised more than 50 research dissertations, including PhD, M Phil. and MA dissertations in areas as diverse as Applied Linguistics, Teaching of English, Professional Communication, Discourse and Genre Analysis, Law and language, Advertising, Acquisition of Professional Competence in the Workplace, Crosscultural and Intercultural Discourses. Professor Bhatia publishes widely in areas of Genre Analysis of Academic and Professional Discourses, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Professional Communication, Simplification of Legal and Other Public documents. Three of his books, Analyzing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings (1993), Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-based View (2004), and Critical Genre Analysis: Investigating Interdiscursive Performance in Professional Communication (2017) are widely referenced in genre theory and professional communication studies.
Human‐biometeorological conditions during heat waves in Poland

The primary objective of the paper was the description of human‐biometeorological conditions during heat waves in Poland in the years 1966–2018. The description is based on the human‐biometeorological index Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET). The research was based on data obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management—National Research Institute for 30 stations in Poland. A heat wave was defined as a sequence of at least 3 days with a maximum daily air temperature of >30°C. The research revealed increasingly frequent occurrence of heat waves in the territory of Poland. The highest number of heat waves was recorded in the western and southern regions of the country, and the lowest in coastal stations. In a large majority of stations, the longest heat waves occurred at the turn of July and August 1994 and in the first half of August 2015. In the case of two longest heat waves, human‐biometeorological conditions were similar, although they were more strenuous during the heat wave in 1994. During that wave, considerably higher maximum PET values were recorded, but days with strong heat stress and extreme heat stress were also more frequent.
Chapter 16 Polyphase (1.6–1.5 and 1.1–1.0 Ga) deformation and metamorphism of Proterozoic (1.7–1.1 Ga) continental crust, Idefjorden terrane, Sveconorwegian orogen

Abstract Crust generated during an accretionary orogeny at 1.66–1.52 Ga (Gothian), and later during crustal extension at c. 1.51–1.49, c. 1.46, c. 1.34–1.30 Ga and after c. 1.33 Ga, dominate the Idefjorden terrane. Metamorphism under greenschist to, locally, high-pressure granulite facies, emplacement of syn-orogenic pegmatite and granite, and polyphase deformation followed at 1.05–1.02 Ga (Agder tectonothermal phase, Sveconorwegian orogeny). Sinistral transpressive deformation, including foreland-directed thrusting, preceded top-to-the-west movement and large-scale open folding along north–south axial trends during the younger orogeny. Crustal extension with emplacement of dolerite and lamprophyre dykes, norite–anorthosite, and a batholithic granite took place at c. 0.95–0.92 Ga (Dalane phase, Sveconorwegian orogeny). Ductile shear zones divide the Idefjorden terrane into segments distinguished by the character of the Gothian crustal component. Orthogneisses with c. 1.66 and c. 1.63–1.59 Ga protoliths occur in the Median segment; c. 1.59–1.52 Ga gneissic intrusive rocks and 1.6 Ga paragneisses with relicts of Gothian deformation and migmatization at c. 1.59 Ga and at c. 1.56–1.55 Ga occur in the Western segment. Mineral resources include stratabound Cu–Fe sulphides hosted by sandstone deposited after c. 1.33 Ga, and polymetallic quartz vein mineralization locally containing Au.
Interaction between Sound and Thermal Influences on Patient Comfort in the Hospitals of China’s Northern Heating Region

Previous studies have found that hospitals are often inadequately ventilated in the heating region of China, which causes an increased risk of negative impacts on patients. The complex interaction between thermal comfort and acoustics presents considerable challenges for designers. There is a wide range of literature covering the area of the interaction between the sound–thermal, sound–odor, and acoustic–visual influences, but a focused research on the sound –thermal influence on comfort in hospitals has not been published yet. This paper describes a series of field measurements and subjective evaluations that investigate the thermal comfort and acoustic performance of eighteen hospitals in China. The results showed that the thermal comfort in the monitored wards was mostly acceptable, but the temperatures tended to be much higher and the humidity much lower, in practice than they were designed to be in the heating season. The most significant conclusion is that a positive thermal stimulus can create a comfortable thermal environment, which can improve patients’ evaluation of the acoustics, while a negative stimulus has the opposite effect. A comfortable acoustic environment also caused patients to positively evaluate thermal comfort. Moreover, the relationship between thermal and sound effects in the overall evaluation showed that they are almost equal.
Assessment of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccination on Nasopharyngeal Pneumococcal Carriage: A Case Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Children Under-Five Years Attending Mbale Municipality Health Centers, Eastern Uganda

Aims: To determine the nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pnuemoniae among children under-5 years of age who have been vaccinated with Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV-10) and those unvaccinated in Mbale Municipality, Eastern Uganda. Study Design: This was a cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Mbale Municipality Health Centres, Eastern Uganda during the period of September 2015 and June, 2016. Original Research Article Onyango et al.; IJTDH, 29(4): 1-6, 2018; Article no.IJTDH. 39279 2 Methodology: We enrolled 280 children (140 vaccinated with PCV 10 and 140 unvaccinated). Demographic data were obtained from the care givers, and vaccination status from the caregiver and the vaccination card. Nasopharyngeal swabs were tested for Streptococcus pneumonia at least four weeks post immunization. Pneumococcal carriage was defined by a positive culture, with an identification of Streptococcus pnuemoniae. Results: The overall prevalence of Streptococcus pnuemoniae carriage was 123 of280 (43.93%; 95% Confidence interval: 39.88-47.69) with the rate among the immunized of 14.29% (95%% CI: 11.33-16.73), compared to the 78.57% (95%CI: 81.34-88.61) among the unvaccinated children. The odds ratio of pneumococcal carriage was 7.4 among the unvaccinated children compared to the PCV immunized children. Conclusion: Vaccination with PCV offers protection to the risk of pneumococcal carriage. This study emphasizes the value of monitoring for the impact of PCV vaccination program in order to reassure health care workers and families.
A Socio-pragmatic Study of External Request Modification in Kurdish Language

the main aim of this study is to figure out whether Kurdish male and female subjects use external modification devices in request with similar percentage. Moreover, this study is an attempt to find out the effect of social factors such as the social status of participants, and the social distance between the subjects on the choice of a certain external modification device than the other. Discourse completion Tests (DCTs) which consisted of (12) situations are employed to elicit the data from 40 Kurdish participants. The translated version of the questionnaire employed in this study, which was translated by the researches to Kurdish Language, is adopted from Reiter(2000). The participants were postgraduate and undergraduate Kurdish students at the University of Garmian which consisted of 10 female and 10 male undergraduate students and 10 male and 10 female postgraduate students. The responses are categorized and analysed within the coding scheme developed by Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper (1989). The result revealed that Kurdish female participants use most of the chosen external modification more than Kurdish Male ones. Regarding the effect of social variables, it has been shown that both Kurdish men and women inclined toward using more external modification in situations where they had less dominant role than the requesters. Moreover, both Kurdish men and women were found to incline towards using the external modification with their request when they addressed strangers. Limitations and implications are highlighted
The Effect of Two Weeks of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Neurorehabilitation of Musician’s Dystonia: A Follow Up

Background: We previously conducted a study where we combined a neurorehabilitation protocol for right hand task-specific focal dystonia with bi-parietal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with left-sided cathode. After two weeks, this protocol showed a significantly greater reduction of symptoms compared with the reduction observed in those musicians receiving neurorehabilitation combined with sham tDCS. After that, patients continued with the neurorehabilitation protocol without tDCS. As the whole rehabilitation process for these patients lasts more than a year, we wonder if this short period of tDCS stimulation is strong enough to change the outcome of the rehabilitation process in these patients. Objective: Analyse whether, at the end of treatment, there is a higher proportion of cured musicians in the group of patients who received concomitant real tDCS during the first two weeks of the neurorehabilitation protocol, and whether this group recovered in a shorter period of time than those who received concomitant sham tDCS. Method: Twenty-six musicians with right hand primary focal dystonia where followed during their neurorehabilitation process based on Sensory Motor Retuning therapy. During the first two weeks they also received either real or sham tDCS (cathode over left and anode over right parietal region) for the first 30 minutes of each 1-hour daily therapy session (total 10 sessions). After that, all patients continued with their daily rehabilitation sessions until complete recovery or until abandoning therapy due to lack of results. During the whole process, the therapist and the patients were blind to the initial tDCS condition. We compared proportions of cured patients and the time necessary to complete recovery in both groups. Results: Of the 13 musicians who received active tDCS, 8 were cured of their dystonia whereas among the 13 who received sham tDCS, 9 were cured. This proportion is not statistically different (F=0.17; p=0.5; Risk Test=1.41). The patients of the active group who were cured took an average of 16.84±3.42 months to do so whereas those that received sham tDCS took an average of 17.38±4.26 months. The time taken was not statistically different between the two groups (U=33.5; p=0.82). Conclusion: Although two weeks of bi-parietal tDCS can increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation in patients with task-specific focal hand dystonia, this short period of stimulation -mostly if we compare it with the average 17 months of duration of the entire process- do not produce any significant effect on the final therapy outcome. Future studies will be necessary to evaluate whether lengthening the stimulation period or maintaining it throughout the whole rehabilitation process can produce beneficial effects on the outcome of these patients.
The Influence of CYP2D6 Phenotype on the Pharmacokinetic Profile of Atomoxetine in Caucasian Healthy Subjects

Abstract Objective: To analyze a potential phenotypic variation within the studied group based on the pharmacokinetic profile of atomoxetine and its active metabolite, and to further investigate the impact of CYP2D6 phenotype on atomoxetine pharmacokinetics. Methods: The study was conducted as an open-label, non-randomized clinical trial which included 43 Caucasian healthy volunteers. Each subject received a single oral dose of atomoxetine 25 mg. Subsequently, atomoxetine and 4-hydroxyatomoxetine-O-glucuronide (glucuronidated active metabolite) plasma concentrations were determined and a noncompartmental method was used to calculate the pharmacokinetic parameters of both compounds. Further on, the CYP2D6 metabolic phenotype was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC) metabolic ratio (atomoxetine/ 4-hydroxyatomoxetine-O-glucuronide) and specific statistical tests (Lilliefors (Kolgomorov-Smirnov) and Anderson-Darling test). The phenotypic differences in atomoxetine disposition were identified based on the pharmacokinetic profile of the parent drug and its metabolite. Results: The statistical analysis revealed that the AUC metabolic ratio data set did not follow a normal distribution. As a result, two different phenotypes were identified, respectively the poor metabolizer (PM) group which included 3 individuals and the extensive metabolizer (EM) group which comprised the remaining 40 subjects. Also, it was demonstrated that the metabolic phenotype significantly influenced atomoxetine pharmacokinetics, as PMs presented a 4.5-fold higher exposure to the parent drug and a 3.2-fold lower exposure to its metabolite in comparison to EMs. Conclusions: The pharmacokinetic and statistical analysis emphasized the existence of 2 metabolic phenotypes: EMs and PMs. Furthermore, it was proved that the interphenotype variability had a marked influence on atomoxetine pharmacokinetic profile.
“The State” of International Studies: Curriculum Design

ABSTRACT In recent decades, institutions across the United States have increasingly emphasized global education as a prerequisite to successful existence in a diverse yet interconnected world. At the same time, there is increasing awareness that the decline in international studies (IS) has resulted in the United States being ill prepared to address complex global challenges. King (2015) lamented that the United States now increasingly lacks regional experts who understand the country-specific challenges and can place them in a larger global strategic context. How the discipline engages students in a global environment matters; however, the field provides little guidance on how to design global studies majors. IS and global studies are apparently both important and neglected. This study examines the curricula for IS, international relations, international affairs, and global studies programs housed in political science. By reviewing more than 100 programs that offer bachelor’s degrees, the authors identify similarities and differences in curricula and present a summative model of a typical IS program housed in political science departments.
The Effects of Log Data on Students’ Performance

This study aimed to assess the relationships between response times (RTs), the number of actions taken to solve a given item, and student performance. In addition, the interaction between the students’ information and communications technology (ICT) competency, reading literacy, and log data (time and number of actions) were examined in order to gain additional insights regarding the relations between student performance and log data. The sample consisted of 2 348 students who participated in the triennial international large-scale assessment of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). For the current study, 18 items in the one cluster of the 91st booklet were chosen. To achieve the aim of the study, explanatory item response modeling (EIRM) framework based on generalized linear mixed modeling (GLMM) was used. The results of this study showed that students who spent more time on items and those that took more actions on items were more likely to answer the items correctly. However, this effect did not have variability across items and students. Moreover, the interaction only with reading and the number of actions was found to have a positive effect on the students’ overall performance.
Inbreeding and Risk of Complex Chronic Diseases

New molecular insights provided plausible scenarios for importance of inbreeding in mediating susceptibility to complex chronic diseases. Still, hardly anything is known of the risks of inbreeding in postreproductive age. This study investigated the relationship between inbreeding and prevalence of 10 complex chronic diseases (coronary disease, stroke, cancer, two common psychiatric disorders, asthma, diabetes, gout, peptic ulcer and epilepsy) in 14 isolate villages on 3 neighboring islands in Croatia. These populations are unique as specific historic circumstances led some to favor and other to avoid inbreeding while sharing similar environment and lifestyle. Variation in education, occupation, diet, smoking and obesity was characterized and inbreeding coefficient (F) of each village computed in adult population based on 3 different methods. Prevalence of diseases was determined through a review of medical records by two trained physicians and a local GP in six villages with the greatest F (N=1, 401), four with intermediate F (N=998) and four with lowest F (N=1, 501). After standardizing the rates by sex and age, it has been shown that inbreeding could be responsible for observed non-specific increase in prevalence of all studied diseases except stroke and adult-type diabetes, showing dose-response effect and the relative risks ranging between 1.2 and 8.8 per 5% of inbreeding. Subsequent cohort and case-control study at the level of individual examines provided further insights into genetic architecture of complex chronic diseases.