Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Equilibrium supply chain structures in the presence of asymmetric manufacturer capabilities in service efficacy and provision

Abstract In 2012, Tesla Motors announced that it would pursue company owned stores, while major automobile manufacturers, such as Ford and Honda, employ the traditional dealership model. Adding ‘service’ to the McGuire-Staelin duopoly game as another competitive instrument to ‘price’, this paper studies the role of service in shaping an equilibrium supply chain structure to show if and when a mixed supply chain structure of one integrated supply chain and one decentralized supply chain becomes an equilibrium outcome. Our model incorporates asymmetric manufacturer capabilities in service efficacy and provision, where service efficacy refers to the effectiveness of generating a higher demand for a given service level and service provision the cost-efficiency in producing service. Our results show that a mixed supply chain structure emerges as a Nash equilibrium outcome only if two products are moderately substitutable and one manufacturer is superior to the other in service provision with the former downward integrating and the latter decentralizing. Under this scenario, the superior manufacturer raises its profits by investing in service provision capabilities, widening the gap with its opponent, and furthermore, the superior manufacturer compensates for a less differentiated product if it is capable of providing service far more cheaply than its opponent.
Upper secondary school students’ perceptions of and experiences with feedback in English writing instruction

This paper presents a survey of student perceptions of feedback in English writing in a context where formative assessment is mandatory. The study comprises 329 first year upper secondary school students from seven schools in eastern Norway, and uses a survey to examine their perceptions of and experiences with feedback in EFL writing instruction. Overall, the findings reveal that students receive varied feedback, on language as well as global errors, but primarily to finished and graded texts. There is little use of feedback between drafts, or of oral conferencing and peer-feedback. While many students do not follow up feedback at all, those who do tend to focus on language error correction and less on global errors. However, student follow up in general, and of global errors in particular, increases markedly with unfinished and ungraded texts, possibly because of available time and teacher support during the revision process. This indicates that feedback utilization can be improved by setting aside classroom time to work with texts between drafts during which students can receive teacher support, and by making this an integrated part of English writing instruction.
Development of an Ultra-High Frequency, Piezoelectric, Aptamer Based Sensor Platform for Small Molecule Detection

Many current aptasensor signal transduction methodologies are designed around the binding mechanism of the aptameric probe. Furthermore, many sensor designs are dependent on a label or signal amplification techniques, adding assay complexity to achieve the sensitivity levels required. The matter is further complicated when small molecule targets are considered. The work presented in this PhD thesis outlines the development of an acoustic wave aptasensing platform that provides more universality in terms of compatible aptamer binding mechanisms. A cocaine aptamer was employed as the aptamer-ligand model system and two aptamer constructs were studied; the rigid MN4 construct that only undergoes tertiary folding upon ligand binding and the MN6 variant that undergoes secondary structure ordering and tertiary structure folding in the presence of cocaine. Aptameric probes were anchored to the surface through an organic adlayer. Several surface configurations were evaluated until an optimized configuration was attained. The first sensor constructed was based on the MN4 construct, whose solution affinity for cocaine that is 7 fold higher than MN6 and exhibited an apparent Kd of 45 ± 12 μM, and a limit of detection of 0.9 μM. The MN6 (structure-switching aptamer) based sensor achieved an
Prevalence of Depression in Pre-Dialytic Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Attending at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh

Background: Depression is a common and serious medical illness around the world. It occurs more frequently in patients with chronic illness than in the general population. It is a common psychiatric problem in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Objective: To assess the level of depression in pre-dialytic CKD patients attending at a tertiary care hospital in Bangladesh. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Nephrology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2020 to June 2020. A total of 100 pre-dialytic CKD patients were selected by convenience sampling technique and their level of depression was assessed by Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS). Data were collected by existing questionnaire with face to face interview and analyzed by statistical test. Results: The mean age of the participants was 49.70 ± 11.80 years. Among them 64% were male, 95% were muslim, 98% were married, 65% were completed secondary/above higher secondary level education, 65% were unemployed and 55% were lived in urban area. It was observed that 65% participants were economically dependent to their family, only 6% were engaged in regular exercise, 14% had family history of depression, 8% were smoker and 12% were alcohol/drug abuser. According to the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) we found 29% participants were mildly depressed, 39% participants were moderately depressed and 18% participants were severely depressed. Prevalence of depression was 86% in pre-dialytic CKD patients. Of them, 7% was in CKD stage-I, 17.4% was in CKD stage-II, 19.8% was in CKD stage-III, 22.1% was in CKD stage-IV and 33.7% was in CKD stage-V. Conclusion: Depression is highly prevalent in pre-dialytic CKD patients and more frequent in the advanced stages of CKD.
Research of low noise pHEMT transistors in equipment for microwave radiometry using numerical simulation

The numerical impact modeling of some external effects on devices based on AlGAs/InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures (pHEMT) was carried out. The mathematical model was created that allowed to predict the behavior of the drain current depending on condition changes on the heterostructure in the barrier region and to start the process of directed construction optimization of the devices based on AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs pHEMT with the aim of improving their noise characteristic.
Awareness of Colorectal Cancer and Associated Factors Among Adult Patients in Jimma, South-West Ethiopia: An Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the first commonest diagnosed cancer in men and the fourth commonest in women in Ethiopia. Awareness of CRC and associated factors is crucial in the prevention of CRC. However, there have not been studies about the awareness of CRC and associated factors among adult patients in Ethiopia. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the awareness of CRC and associated factors among adult patients in Jimma, South-West Ethiopia, 2020. Methods This institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 422 adult patients. The study respondents were recruited by a systematic random sampling method. The Cancer Awareness Measure questions were used to measure awareness of CRC of adult patients. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results More than half (57.6%) of respondents had low-level awareness of CRC. Respondents who were females (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.86; 95% CI: 1.26, 2.75), who are residing in urban areas (AOR = .45; 95% CI: .30, .67), who had a monthly income of 3000 Ethiopian Birr and above (AOR = 4.72; 95% CI: 3.11, 7.15), who heard about CRC (AOR = 4.48; 95% CI: 2.90, 6.93), who get information through social media about CRC (AOR = 2.51; 95% CI: 1.18, 5.37), and who had a family history of CRC (AOR = 3.27; 95% CI: 1.45, 7.36) had a high level of awareness of CRC, while those who cannot read and write (AOR = 2.83; 95% CI: 1.49, 5.37) and learn elementary school (AOR = 2.12; 95% CI: 1.15, 3.93) had a low level of awareness of CRC. Conclusion This study indicated that awareness of CRC of adult patients was inadequate. Adult patients’ gender, residency, level of education, monthly income, heard about CRC, sources of information about CRC, and a family history of CRC were found to be independent predictors of the awareness of CRC. Therefore, there is a need for health education and awareness campaigns for promoting awareness of CRC of adult patients, and the government should develop policy on CRC prevention and screening program.
Credit Card Fraud Detection Using Weighted Support Vector Machine

Credit card fraudulent data is highly imbalanced, and it has presented an overwhelmingly large portion of nonfraudulent transactions and a small portion of fraudulent transactions. The measures used to judge the veracity of the detection algorithms become critical to the deployment of a model that accurately scores fraudulent transactions taking into account case imbalance, and the cost of identifying a case as genuine when, in fact, the case is a fraudulent transaction. In this paper, a new criterion to judge classification algorithms, which considers the cost of misclassification, is proposed, and several undersampling techniques are compared by this new criterion. At the same time, a weighted support vector machine (SVM) algorithm considering the financial cost of misclassification is introduced, proving to be more practical for credit card fraud detection than traditional methodologies. This weighted SVM uses transaction balances as weights for fraudulent transactions, and a uniformed weight for nonfraudulent transactions. The results show this strategy greatly improve performance of credit card fraud detection.
Mentoring Doctoral Student Mothers in Counselor Education: A Phenomenological Study

When the pursuit of doctoral studies and motherhood intersect, the risk of attrition increases. Although other studies have explored the challenges of student mothers in academia, this study looked at how mentorship might mediate them. This phenomenological study examined the mentoring experiences of doctoral student mothers or recent graduates in counselor education and supervision programs (N = 12). Unanimously, participants articulated that their professional identity was enhanced by their identity as mothers, but balancing multiple roles required supportive mentors. Participants described the personal qualities of effective faculty and peer mentors, many also mothers who understood their needs. Mentoring served as a protective factor in helping navigate barriers, providing academic and emotional encouragement, reducing isolation, and creating realistic timelines. Suggestions for mentoring programs and advocacy are discussed.
Study of antibiotics resistance in bacteria isolated from retailed eggshell in three major markets in Minna, Nigeria

Food borne disease associated with inappropriately treated or untreated eggs is a major public health problem affecting developing and developed countries. This study isolated, identified and determined the Antibiogram of bacteria isolates from eggshell of eggs obtained from three major markets in Minna, Nigeria. A total of ten (10) duplicate egg samples were purchased from egg retailers. The egg samples were analyzed for the enumeration and isolation of bacteria. The isolated bacteria were identified using biochemical methods. Antibiotic susceptibility test to prescribed commercially available antibiotic discs was also investigated. The total viable bacteria count (TVBC) ranged from 1.38×104 - 2.52×104 cfu/mL while the total coliform count (TCC) ranged from 8.5×103 - 2.02×104 cfu/mL. Escherichia coli (9.1%), Streptococcus pyogenes (4.5%), Enterococcus sp. (4.5%), Shigella sp. (13.6%), Salmonella sp. (13.6%), Staphylococcus aureus (36.4%), Clostridium sp. (9.1%) and Neisseria sp. (9.1%) were isolated and identified from eggshells. Gram positive bacteria showed highest sensitivity to gentamycin (100%) however, resist cloxacillin, ceftadizime and erythromycin (100%). Similarly, there was no ciprofloxacin resistant Gram-negative bacteria though E. coli, Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. isolated from eggshells were resistant to augmentin and amoxicillin. Further analysis of result revealed that all the isolated bacteria from eggshells were multidrug resistant except Neisseria sp. with multidrug resistant index greater than 0.2. The fact that these antibiotic resistant bacteria can be transferred to humans is of public health concern. Therefore, stringent use of public health regulations for cleaning eggs before retailing is advocated.
Drivers of Microbial Community Structure in Surface Sediment Aross Bohai Sea

Background: Microbial spatial distribution has been widely investigated in sediment. However, there is poorly available information on microbial distribution patterns in sediment of Bohai Sea coastal zone. Results: Here, we investigated the bacterial community composition and diversity in riverine and marine surface sediment around and in the Bohai Sea using high-throughput sequencing. Bacterial communities mainly comprised Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes. Salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, and magnetic susceptibility played the main role in determining bacterial α-diversity and community composition in this region. Of the total bacterial community composition variation, environmental factors (explained 29.41% of the total microbial community composition variation) played a more important role than spatial variables (explained 3.03%) in conditioning the bacterial community composition. Meanwhile, the significantly pure spatial effect and distance-decay tendency suggested that dispersal limitation was also an influential factor in shaping the bacterial biogeographical pattern. The presence of magnetite center might shape the geographical distribution of five genera Lactococcus, Clostridium, Caulobacter, Gillisia and Sphingomonas probably by affecting their iron-related geochemical cycle.Conclusion: Our results may provide a better understanding of present-day bacterial biogeography and the correlation between microbial communities and key environmental variables in a typical coastal area. Depending on these information, coastal resources could be efficiently predicted, assessed and used.
Hodgkin's Lymphoma: Epidemiological Clinical Characteristics in a Reference Hospital in Oncology in the Eastern Amazon.

Background: Lymphomas are a type of cancer that starts in the lymphatic system. This system is made up of organs, tissues and vessels responsible for immune function. Hodgkin's lymphoma is characterized by giant cells, well differentiated and binucleated. It is divided into two groups: classical hodgkin's lymphoma and hodgkin's lymphoma predominant in nodular lymphocytes. The classic in turn is subdivided into four more histological subtypes: nodular sclerosis, rich in lymphocytes, depleted in lymphocytes and mixed cellularity. This study analyzed the spatial distribution and clinical-epidemiological and Hodgkin's lymphoma characteristics and their histological types in patients diagnosed with the disease at a Reference Hospital in Oncology in the Eastern Amazon between the years 2006 to 2015.Methods: A study was carried out cross-sectional, retrospective, analytical and descriptive study through the analysis of the medical records of 336 patients diagnosed with the disease in that given period and location, the G test was performed to demonstrate the association between the variables. Results: The cases of Hodgkin's Lymphoma came from the following Brazilian states: Pará (318 cases), Amapá (15 cases), Maranhão (2 cases), Piauí (1 case). It affected more men (62%) and young adults (mean age 26 years). The most frequent histological type was nodular sclerosis (65%). The primary location of the tumor was predominant in the cervical lymph nodes (65%). Mostly, patients with no metastases (98%), but the presence of metastases was more frequent in Hodgkin's lymphoma, Nodular Lymphocytic Predominance (18%). Conclusion: The data obtained in this study allow to know some regional peculiarities about Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which can contribute to regional preventive policies, as well as can support comparisons about the disease in other regions, contributing to better understand the heterogeneity of LH.
Evaluation of Microleakage of Four Root Canal Sealers – A Fluorescent Microscope Study

BACKGROUND Success or failure of endodontic treatment is directly affected by factors such as persistence of bacteria due to inadequate canal disinfection, inadequate or overextensions of root filling materials, improper coronal seal, untreated canals, iatrogenic procedural errors, and complications of instrumentation. 1 Microleakage is one of the most common reasons for failure in endodontics which could be either coronal or apical microleakage. Apical leakage is the entry of micro-organisms or leakage of tissue fluids into the canal space. 2 As microleakage is directly dependant on the bonding of sealer to the canal wall, 3 an ideal sealer will prevent marginal leakage and establish a tight seal against bacterial recontamination Orstavik (2005) of the obturated pulp space. 4 This study was designed to evaluate the microleakage of tricalcium silicate based sealer – ‘BioRoot RCS’ in comparison with three conventional root canal sealers like zinc oxide eugenol based sealer, calcium hydroxide based sealer – Seal Apex, resin based sealer – AH Plus, by Rhodamine B dye penetration technique using fluorescent microscopy.
Study of interaction and adsorption of aromatic amines by manganese oxides and their role in chemical evolution

Abstract The role of manganese oxides in concentrating organic moieties and offering catalytic activity for prebiotic reactions is investigated by studying their interaction with different aromatic amines such as aniline, p-chloroaniline, p-toluidine and p-anisidine. For all amines, metal oxides showed highest adsorption at neutral pH. The order of their adsorption capacity and affinity as revealed by the Langmuir constants was found to be manganosite (MnO) > bixbyite (Mn2O3) > hausmannite (Mn3O4) > and pyrolusite (MnO2). At alkaline pH, these manganese oxides offered their surfaces for oxidation of amines to form coloured oligomers. Analysis of the oxidation products by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry showed the formation of a dimer from p-anisidine and p-chloroaniline, while a trimer and tetramer is formed from p-toluidine and aniline, respectively. A reaction mechanism is proposed for the formation of the oligomers. While field-emission scanning electron microscopic studies confirm the binding phenomenon, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis suggests that the mechanism of binding of amines on the manganese oxides was primarily electrostatic. The adsorption behaviour of the studied aromatic amines followed the order: p-anisidine > p-toluidine > aniline > p-chloroaniline, which is related to the basicities and structure of the amines. Our studies confirmed the significance of the role of manganese oxides in prebiotic chemistry.
Why do citizens use e-tax system?

Among the various online services provided by the government, e-tax system is one of the commonly used e-government platforms, which offers significant benefits to government and citizens by reducing costs, eliminate human errors, and reduce the turnaround time for processing income tax returns. Despite these plausible benefits, some reservations have been articulated regarding the continuance usage intention of e-tax system. Thus, we investigate the most critical factors of e-tax continuance usage in this paper. We developed an integrated theoretical model based on the technology continuance theory (TCT) extended with social influence and perceived risk. The proposed conceptual model was empirically validated with data collected from a sample of 345 e-tax service users in Bangladesh. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the collected data. The study findings suggest that user satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and attitude have a direct impact on continuance usage intention where confirmation, ease of use and social influence have indirect influence on continuance usage intention of e-tax system. This paper discusses some contributions to theory and practice based on our findings
The Contribution of E-Procurement on Business Operations of Road Maintenance Fund (RMF), Rwanda

This study examined the contribution of e-procurement on business operations in Rwanda using a case of Road Maintenance Fund. The study determined the effects of electronic tendering, electronic-sourcing electronic auctioning. A descriptive research design was adopted. The targeted population was 148 employees and beneficiaries of RMF. A sample of 109 respondents calculated using Slovene’s formula was selected using and adequate sample design consisting of purpose sampling technique and simple random sampling technique were helpful in selecting workers. Information from workers were obtained using a questionnaire survey, while information from key informants were collected using interview guide. Quantitative information was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0 through the presentation of data in Tables, Figures, and Percentages Frequencies. Inferential statistical was used to reflected correlation and regression analysis. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis through themes and subthemes. The study indicated that e-tendering(r=0.372, p= 0.000), e-sourcing (p=0.257, p value=0.001) and e-auctioning (p=0.168, p-value=0,002) are predictors for business operations’ performance. It is recommended to establish mechanisms to copy with constraints impending the implementation of e-procurement. Automated procurement must be clear for requisition, tendering contractual agreement and payment, adopt the user friendly data method that all contractors could use to improve their internal processes to reduce bureaucracy and increase efficiency. Similar research may be undertaken to discover whether similar findings would be realized.
On Applying of Generalized Computational Experiment to Numerical Methods Verification

This work is devoted to the application of a generalized computational experiment for a comparative assessment of numerical methods accuracy. A generalized computational experiment allows one to obtain a numerical solution for a class of problems determined by the ranges of defining parameters variation. The approaches to the application of a generalized computational experiment in the presence of a reference solution and in its absence are dis-cussed. An example of constructing error surfaces is given when the solvers of the OpenFOAM software package are compared. The classic inviscid problem of oblique shock wave is used as a basic task. Variations of the key parameters of the problem — the Mach number and angle of attack — are considered. An example of the problem of flow around a cone at an angle of attack with varying Mach number, cone angle and angle of attack is also considered. The concept of an error index is introduced as an integral characteristic of deviations from the exact solution for each solver in the class of problems under consideration.