Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Faculty perceptions about virtual world technology: Affordances and barriers to adoption

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS ABOUT VIRTUAL WORLD TECHNOLOGY: AFFORDANCES AND BARRIERS TO ADOPTION by Linda Wiedeman Wood Providing instruction using different instructional delivery methods allows the learner to absorb content in a way that fits the individual learner. Today’s students have grown up immersed in digital technology. However, many higher education faculty are still not speaking the same digital language as their students. The issue may be that the pedagogical and epistemological beliefs of faculty who are “digital immigrants” affect the teaching methods used in the higher education classroom today. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore design college faculty perceptions of the adoption of virtual world technology into the classroom. Diffusion and adoption theories, adoption models, and patterns of adoption provided a conceptual framework for this study. This mixed methods study collected data through a survey and post-survey interviews administered to faculty of 21 design colleges. The quantitative survey instrument included questions about the usage of technology, including virtual world technology, in the higher education classroom. A total of 309 faculty completed the survey. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, means, and standard deviations were used in the analysis. A correlation analysis was performed to determine if there was a relationship between selected variables and the survey responses. Post-survey semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 faculty participants who volunteered for the interviews after participating in the survey. In this study, I used the constant comparative open coding hybrid method for the interview analysis. The specific research question posed in this study was: What are the perceptions of design college faculty regarding the use of virtual world technology in their courses? Guiding questions included: (a) What are faculty perceptions about virtual world technology that potentially affect its adoption into the classroom? (b) What are faculty perceptions of the affordances of using virtual world technology in the classroom? (c) What are faculty perceptions of the challenges of using virtual world technology in the classroom? In general, the results of this study indicate that while higher education faculty perceive that virtual world technology has the potential to be a useful teaching tool in the classroom, the faculty also perceive that they do not have the essential software and hardware support from their colleges to adopt this type of technology as a teaching tool in their courses. FACULTY PERCEPTIONS ABOUT VIRTUAL WORLD TECHNOLOGY: AFFORDANCES AND BARRIERS TO ADOPTION by Linda Wiedeman Wood A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Instructional Technology in the Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology in the College of Education Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia 2010 Copyright by Linda Wiedeman Wood 2010
An agent-based curve-digitizing system for well-logging data management

To permanently keep and efficiently use data implied in curves on well-logging parameter graphs is becoming very important in the petroleum industry. In this paper, we contribute a system based on multi-agent technology to digitize well-logging curves and store the data into the Oracle database by means of an agent-based database broker. We employed some ideas of Gaia and Open Agent Architecture (OAA) to analyze and design the system. We applied the line adjacency graph (LAG) data structure to develop the image-compressing agent, which compresses image files with great efficiency. According to the characteristics of the well-logging parameter graph, the digitizing algorithms based on a centimeter grid of coordinates, which perfectly rectify the distortion of the parameter graph, are proposed for implementing the digitizing agent. We applied middleware agents to operate databases in the uniform Database-based Agent Communication Language (DBACL). The experimental results show that all agents in the system can work cooperatively.
Modeling Driver Behavior in a road network with route choice based on real time traffic information

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications require a thorough understanding of drivers' route choice behavior in a complex network under real-time information. The purpose of this paper is to describe and model driver route choice behavior in a road network based on real time traffic information at the disaggregate individual level and from a psychological decision-making process perspective. The framework of routing choice and driver dynamic route choice behavior model that uses concepts from Decision Field Theory (DFT) and Bayesian belief network (BBN) is proposed. A real-time planning algorithm for route choice processes is discussed in great detail. Using this algorithm, a driver develops his route dynamically until he reaches his destination. The simulation results show that the combination of DFT and BBN can effectively describe the driver's travel dynamics behavior . DOI : http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v12i3. 4466 Full Text: PDF
IMPACT OF ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISIS IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The current financial and economic crisis has affected many sectors, and also the construction sector. The construction market has been and will be an important source of income for the entire Europe, totaling about 1.650 thousand billion euro, which is more than the GDP of Italy. Building no doubt brings significant percentage in the GDP of any European country, which of course is different from country to country. In Western European countries, the residential market is almost 50% from the construction market, while in Eastern European countries the majority is held by the civil and non-residential constructions. In addition, in the West the medium budget per capita spent on construction is 3-4 times higher than that spent in Eastern countries. But, according to previsions in the coming years the countries that will witness a growth, albeit small, will be the Eastern ones. The paper highlights the impact of the economic and financial crisis in the construction industry on a European and national level, as the sustainable constructions that may represent the sector’s future.
Review of the factors influencing the motivation of community drug distributors towards the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

Background Community drug distributors or neglected tropical disease (NTD) volunteers have played a crucial role in ensuring the success of mass drug administration (MDA) programs using preventive chemotherapy (PC) for lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and soil transmitted helminths. In recent years however, a noticeable decline in motivation of some of these volunteers has been perceived, potentially negatively impacting the success of these programs. Potential hypotheses for this change in motivation include the long duration of many MDA programs, the change in sociocultural environments as well as the changes to the programs over time. This literature review identifies factors that affect NTD volunteer performance and motivation, which may be used to influence and improve future programming. Methodology/Principal findings A systematic search was conducted to identify studies published between January 1995 and September 2016 that investigate factors pertaining to volunteer motivation and performance in NTD drug distribution programs. Searches from several databases and grey literature yielded 400 records, of which 28 articles from 10 countries met the inclusion criteria. Quality assessment of studies was performed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme(CASP) checklist. Data pertaining to motivation, performance, retention and satisfaction was extracted and examined for themes. Recurring themes in the literature included monetary and material incentives, intrinsic motivation, gender, cost to participate, and health systems and community support. Of these, community support and the health system were found to be particularly impactful. Very few studies were found to explicitly look at novel incentives for volunteers and very few studies have considered the out of pocket and opportunity costs that NTD volunteers bear carrying out their tasks. Conclusions/Significance There is currently great interest in incorporating more attractive incentive schemes for NTD volunteers. However, our results show that the important challenges that volunteers face (cultural, health systems, financial and community related) may have less to do with financial incentives and may actually have a larger impact on their motivation than has previously been understood. Further integration of NTD programs into existing health systems is expected to improve the NTD volunteer working environment. Relevant community engagement related to the MDA program should also provide the supportive environment needed in the community to support NTD volunteers. Programs need to consider these issues to improve working conditions for NTD volunteers.
Bus Network Modeling Using Ant Algorithms

Bus transit network modeling is a complex and combinatorial problem. The main purpose of this paper is to apply a contemporary method for designing a bus transit network with the objective of achieving optimum results. The method is called Ant Algorithms, a Meta Heuristic method, which has been applied to optimization problems in transportation with noticeable success. The description of the algorithm, as well as the main methodology and computations, is presented in this paper. Furthermore, a case study using Ant Algorithms applied to the city of Ghazvin, one of the most important suburbs of Tehran, Iran, is presented.
One‐class SVM for biometric authentication by keystroke dynamics for remote evaluation

Remote skills assessment in distance education needs individual identification in distinguishing between candidates and impostors. Keystroke dynamics is a behavioral biometrics which can be used to identify them. To expect lower error rate, behaviors should be as natural and consistent as possible. The unique identifier assigned to students at their registration seems appropriate but the classification method applied for this case of anomaly detection must be robust even with a lower signature number. In this paper, we first explain how we construct our own dataset. Three methods of selecting Gaussian kernel parameters for one‐class support vector machine are subsequently studied regarding the targeted application constraints. The results show that an indirect method as distance to farthest neighbor cannot be used because some signature features have multimodal and dispersed distributions. A method is then proposed based on the selection of the parameters via detecting the "tightness" of the decision boundaries and uses a greedy search. Its performances are compared to those of a grid search method using LibSVM. The results show that the proposed method is more robust when the signatures number decreases and better and more stable in detecting impostors.
Comparative assessment of the therapeutic drug targets of C. botulinum ATCC 3502 and C. difficile str. 630 using in silico subtractive proteomics approach

Growing antimicrobial resistance of the pathogens against multiple drugs posed a serious threat to the human health worldwide. This fueled the need of identifying the novel therapeutic targets that can be used for developing new class of the drugs. Recently, there is a substantial rise in the rate of Clostridium infections as well as in the emergence of virulent and antibiotic resistant strains. Hence, there is an urgent need for the identification of potential therapeutic targets and the development of new drugs for the treatment and prevention of Clostridium infections. In the present study, a combinatorial approach involving systems biology and comparative genomics strategy was tested against Clostridium botulinum ATCC 3502 and Clostridium difficile str. 630 pathogens, to render potential therapeutic target at qualitative and quantitative level. This resulted in the identification of five common (present in both the pathogens, 34 in C. botulinum ATCC 3502 and 42 in C. difficile str. 630) drug targets followed by virtual screening–based identification of potential inhibitors employing molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. The identified targets will provide a solid platform for the designing of novel wide‐spectrum lead compounds capable of inhibiting their catalytic activities against multidrug‐resistant Clostridium in the near future.
Design of acid-responsive polymeric nanoparticles for 7,3′,4′-trihydroxyisoflavone topical administration

7,3′,4′-Trihydroxyisoflavone (734THIF) is a secondary metabolite of daidzein and has been recently found to possess antioxidant, melanin inhibition, and skin cancer chemopreventive activities. However, the poor water solubility of 734THIF impedes its absorption and skin penetration and, therefore, limits its pharmacological effects when applied topically to the skin. We seek to use the nanoprecipitation method to prepare optimal eudragit E100 (EE)–polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-loaded 734THIF nanoparticles (734N) to improve its physicochemical properties and thereby increase its water solubility, skin penetration, and biological activities. EE–PVA-loaded 734THIF nanoparticles (734N) were prepared, and their morphology and particle size were evaluated using a particle size analyzer and by electron microscopy. The drug loading and encapsulation efficiencies and in vitro solubility were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. Hydrogen-bond formation was evaluated by 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and crystalline-to-amorphous transformation was determined by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometry. In vitro skin penetration was analyzed using fresh pig skin mounted on Franz diffusion cells, and cytotoxicity against human keratinocyte HaCaT cells was evaluated using the MTT assay. Antioxidant activity was determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl-free radical scavenging ability. EE–PVA-loaded 734THIF nanoparticles showed good drug loading and encapsulation efficiencies and were characterized by improved physicochemical properties, including reduction in particle size, amorphous transformation, and intermolecular hydrogen-bond formation. This is associated with increased water solubility and enhanced in vitro skin penetration, with no cytotoxicity toward HaCaT cells. In addition, 734THIF nanoparticles retained their antioxidant activity. In conclusion, 734THIF nanoparticles are characterized by improved physicochemical properties, increased water solubility, and enhanced skin penetration, and these may have potential use in the future as a topical delivery formulation for the treatment of skin diseases.
One for all and all for One: Improving replication of genetic studies through network diffusion

Improving accuracy in genetic studies would greatly accelerate understanding the genetic basis of complex diseases. One approach to achieve such an improvement for risk variants identified by the genome wide association study (GWAS) approach is to incorporate previously known biology when screening variants across the genome. We developed a simple approach for improving the prioritization of candidate disease genes that incorporates a network diffusion of scores from known disease genes using a protein network and a novel integration with GWAS risk scores, and tested this approach on a large Alzheimer disease (AD) GWAS dataset. Using a statistical bootstrap approach, we cross-validated the method and for the first time showed that a network approach improves the expected replication rates in GWAS studies. Several novel AD genes were predicted including CR2, SHARPIN, and PTPN2. Our re-prioritized results are enriched for established known AD-associated biological pathways including inflammation, immune response, and metabolism, whereas standard non-prioritized results were not. Our findings support a strategy of considering network information when investigating genetic risk factors.
Evaluation of Genetic Differentiation in Bos indicus Cattle Breeds from Marathwada Region of India Using Microsatellite Polymorphism

Elucidation of genetic variability and genetic relationship among breeds has direct relevance with the issues of sustainable use of domestic animal genetic resources. In the present study, genetic polymorphism was evaluated using 22 microsatellite loci in unrelated samples of Red Kandhari and Deoni cattle breeds inhabiting the same geographical area of Marathwada region in Maharashtra state (western India). This work was mainly aimed at assessing the current genetic diversity to understand whether the two zebu populations in question are genetically differentiated. A total of 164 alleles were detected with an average of 5.82 and 5.86 alleles per locus (MNA) in Red Kandhari and Deoni breeds, respectively. The estimated mean observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity were 0.47 and 0.64 in Red Kandhari vs. 0.57 and 0.69 in Deoni cattle, respectively, demonstrating considerable level of genetic variation in both the populations. Mean estimates of F statistics were: F (FIT) = 0.315±0.035, f(FIS) = 0.231±0.031, θ(FST) = 0.110±0.022, with both the breeds exhibiting significant deficit of heterozygotes (FIS = 0.179 in Deoni; 0.278 in Red Kandhari). The multilocus FST values implied that 11.0% of the total genetic variation corresponds to breed and were statistically greater than zero for the two populations, suggesting population division. The evaluation of exact test also indicated that allele frequencies across all the loci differed significantly (P < 0.001) between two zebu breeds, further supporting population differentiation. Different genetic distance measures showed considerable levels of distances between the two cattle breeds (0.318 = Nei's standard DS; 0.250 = Nei's DA; 0.416 = Cavalli-Sforza and Edwards's DC; 0.164 = Reynold's, and 2.64 = Delta mu square (dμ)2. Bayesian statistical approach to assign each individual to the population also supported considerable differentiation between the two cattle breeds, possibly reflecting the limited gene flow between the two Marthwada cattle populations. The existence of cohesive breeding structure of both the breeds was further substantiated by allele-sharing distance measures (DAS) among individual animals. The results of this study thus revealed that the two Bos indicus breeds sharing the common breeding tracts are genetically differentiated enough as separate breeds.
Myg1 exonuclease couples the nuclear and mitochondrial translational programs through RNA processing

Abstract Semi-autonomous functioning of mitochondria in eukaryotic cell necessitates coordination with nucleus. Several RNA species fine-tune mitochondrial processes by synchronizing with the nuclear program, however the involved components remain enigmatic. In this study, we identify a widely conserved dually localized protein Myg1, and establish its role as a 3′-5′ RNA exonuclease. We employ mouse melanoma cells, and knockout of the Myg1 ortholog in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with complementation using human Myg1 to decipher the conserved role of Myg1 in selective RNA processing. Localization of Myg1 to nucleolus and mitochondrial matrix was studied through imaging and confirmed by sub-cellular fractionation studies. We developed Silexoseqencing, a methodology to map the RNAse trail at single-nucleotide resolution, and identified in situ cleavage by Myg1 on specific transcripts in the two organelles. In nucleolus, Myg1 processes pre-ribosomal RNA involved in ribosome assembly and alters cytoplasmic translation. In mitochondrial matrix, Myg1 processes 3′-termini of the mito-ribosomal and messenger RNAs and controls translation of mitochondrial proteins. We provide a molecular link to the possible involvement of Myg1 in chronic depigmenting disorder vitiligo. Our study identifies a key component involved in regulating spatially segregated organellar RNA processing and establishes the evolutionarily conserved ribonuclease as a coordinator of nucleo-mitochondrial crosstalk.
Laboratory testing for cobalamin deficiency in megaloblastic anemia

Cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiency is a common cause of megaloblastic anemia in Western populations. Laboratory evaluation of megaloblastic anemia frequently includes the assessment of patient cobalamin and folate status. Current total serum cobalamin measurements are performed in the clinical laboratory with competitive binding luminescence assays, whose results may not always accurately reflect actual cobalamin stores. Surrogate markers of cobalamin deficiency such as methylmalonic acid and homocysteine have been utilized to improve diagnostic accuracy; however, the specificity of these tests by themselves is rather low. Measurement of the biologically active fraction of cobalamin, holotranscobalamin, has been proposed as a replacement for current total cobalamin assays. Although holotranscobalamin measurements appear to have slighter better sensitivity, the specificity of this assay remains to be determined. The relative merits and demerits of commonly available methods to assess cobalamin deficiency in patients with suspected megaloblastic anemia are discussed. Am. J. Hematol. 88:522–526, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
It Pays to Be Nice to People: Investors in People; The Search for Measurable Benefits

Investigates the business benefits achievable through the process of recognition for investors in people (IIP). The policy context of IIP is examined. The possitbility of links between human resource initiatives such as IIP and business performance raises questions about a wider range of HR issues and their value. The potential benefits are explored through interviews with a variety of organisations which have achieved recognition. Two measurement frames are used, employee and organisational performance, allowing a wide range of measures to be examined. The study finds that motives for recognition are varied, leading to a widespread failure to identify the benefits which are in fact gained. Suggests that a wide range of benefits derive from the IIP process and that organisations which change substantially to achieve recognition would gain substantially greater benefits.
Chapter 16 BIOGEOCHEMICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT RDX DEGRADATION

Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) is a secondary high explosive that has been identified as a contaminant of concern in groundwater and soil as a result of military training activities (Wani et al., 2002). Remediation technologies that have been proposed for use on these training ranges include in situ techniques. An obstacle to using in situ approaches for the treatment of RDX contaminated soils and groundwater is the lack of information concerning the biogeochemical factors that influence transformation. This research compares paired (biotic and poised abiotic systems) RDX degradation experiments in which Eh-pH conditions conducive to RDX degradation were established. Degradation of RDX under iron-reducing conditions was studied in biological and chemical systems. The redox conditions created by the biological systems were simulated by poised chemical systems in order to compare RDX transformation. The poised chemical systems used an iron-ligand complex to achieve the necessary Eh values for RDX degradation. RDX degraded in both biological and chemical systems and final reaction solutions from both systems were analyzed to determine which degradation pathway was followed. The results from this effort will expand the basic knowledge of energetic transformation over a range of biologicallyinduced conditions, by isolation of enzymatic pathways from abiotic redox mechanisms.