Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teaching and Research: Implications for Active Learning in Higher Education

The paper presents practical execution of a course The Qualitative Research Methods at the two-year master’s programs 3+2 (MA) in pedagogy at the Faculty of Education of University of Białystok, conducted according to premises of research-based learning (RBL). The aim of The Qualitative Research Methods is to develop research competence of students in the area of designing, conducting and reporting qualitative research. During classes the students prepare team projects of qualitative research dealing with their everyday life. The paper presents the results of analysis of 161 projects of qualitative research done over three-year period (2017–2020). Methodological premises done by the students at the stage of research planning were reconstructed: 1) the topic of research; 2) the subject and the goals of research; 3) motivation of a subject choice; 4) research problems. The analysis allowed to establish that linking research with teaching enables students to gain knowledge of: 1) conducting scientific research; 2) the scientific field they study as well as the fields related to it; 3) team work (including one dealing with executing and presenting the scientific research); 4) themselves as researchers.
Wireless Home Energy Management System with Smart Rule-Based Controller

Despite the increasing utilization of renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind energy, most residential buildings still rely on conventional energy supply by public utility services. Such utility services often use time-of-use energy pricing, which compels residential consumers to reduce their energy usage. This paper presents a wireless home energy management (HEM) system that enables the automatic control of home appliances to reduce energy consumption to assist such energy users. The system consists of multiple smart sockets that measure the energy that is consumed by the connected appliances and are capable of implementing on/off commands. The system includes other support components for supplying data to a central controller, which utilizes a rule-based HEM algorithm. The control rules were designed, such that the lifestyle of the user would be preserved while the energy consumption and daily energy cost were reduced. The experimental results showed that the central controller could effectively receive data and control multiple devices. The system was also found to afford significant reductions of 23.5 kWh and $2.898 in the total daily energy consumption and bill of the considered household setup, respectively. The proposed HEM system promises to be particularly useful for households with a high daily energy consumption.
Towards graphene based mono-molecular electronics : structural and electrical characterization of side-gated devices

L'objectif de ce travail de these est la production et la caracterisation de monofeuillets de graphene, sa structuration a l'echelle sub-micrometrique et l'etude des proprietes electroniques des feuillets et nanorubans de graphene. Le graphene est un arrangement bidimensionnel hexagonal d'atomes de carbone hybride sp2. Bien que le graphene soit pressenti depuis plusieurs annees comme un materiau aux proprietes electroniques nouvelles lorsqu'il est structures a l'echelle nanometrique, son etude a ete longtemps differee par la difficulte a preparer et identifier ce materiau d'epaisseur atomique. En combinant plusieurs approches, nous montrons comment des feuillets d'une seule, quelques ou plusieurs couches peuvent etre produits sur des substrats de Si/SiO2 avec ou sans structures d'accueil. La caracterisation par microscopies optique, electronique a balayage ou a champ proche ont permis de caracteriser la morphologie et le nombre precis de couches. En outre, la spectroscopie Raman a permis de distinguer clairement la monocouche exfoliee isolee des empilements lâches de multicouches decouplees obtenues par epitaxie. Des plots de 20µm de diametre ont ete manipule et amincis in-situ par exfoliation jusqu'a produire des depots <10 nm d'epaisseur entre des electrodes metalliques pre-definies. La lithographie par Faisceaux d'Ions Focalise (FIB) a permis, a la fois, de deposer des contacts metalliques sur les disques de graphene multicouche mais aussi de les structurer en rubans de 2 µm de long et 80 - 250 nm de large avec grilles laterales en graphene. Le transport a basse temperature et sous effet de champ a ete caracterise et modelise. Il met en evidence l'existence d'une chaine de points quantiques separes par des barrieres tunnel qui est egalement vu dans la plupart des nanorubans de graphene etudies a l'heure actuel. Enfin, nous avons etudie par microscopoie a force electrostatique la delocalisation bidimensionelle des charges residuelles ou injectees dans des petits domaines de graphene monocouche La variation de la densite surfacique de charges induite en fonction du nombre de couches est interpretee par un modele capacitif simple. Cette approche est appliquee au cas de nanorubans de graphene monocouche avec grilles laterales en complement des etudes en cryotransport precedentes.
Seed traits and phylogeny explain plant distribution at large
geographic scale

Abstract. Understanding the mechanisms that shape the geographic distribution of plant species is a central theme of biogeography. Although seed mass, seed dispersal mode and phylogeny have long been suspected to affect species distribution, the link between the sources of variation of these attributes and their joint effects to the distribution of seed plants remain poorly documented. This study aims to quantify the joint effects of key seed traits and phylogeny on the species' distribution. We collected seed mass and seed dispersal mode from 1,616 species of seed plants representing 554 genera of 130 families. We used 5,639,009 specimens to calculate species range size through ArcGIS10.2. Phylogenetic generalized least squares regression modeling and variation partitioning were performed to estimate the joint effects of seed mass, seed dispersal mode and phylogeny on species distribution. We found that species range size was constrained by seed dispersal mode and phylogeny. Seed mass and its intraspecific variation were also important in limiting species distribution, but their effects were different among species with different dispersal modes. Variation partitioning revealed that seed mass, seed mass variability, seed dispersal mode and phylogeny together explained 40.44 % of the variance in species range size. Seed traits are not typically used to model the geographic distributions of seed plants. This study provides direct evidence that seed mass, seed dispersal modes and phylogeny explain species distribution variation on a large geographic scale. Our findings underscore the necessity to include seed traits and the phylogenetic history of species, together with existing climate-based niche models, in predicting the response of plant geographic distribution to climate change.
MPI Parallelisation of 3D Multiphase Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

This paper addresses the MPI parallelisation of a 3D multiphase smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) solver, focusing on supercooled large droplets (SLD) impingement. SPH uses moving particles to represent fluid flows, demanding particular parallelisation strategies. A cell system provides a spatial reference to generate dynamical neighbour lists, and to pack, send and receive particles. A re-indexing method is introduced to accommodate migrating particles and a sequential particle collecting technique is proposed to reduce the complexity of communications for 3D partitioning. The scalability is tested on up to 1024 processors with 110 million particles, and the effects of particle load on computing speeds are also investigated. The solver is then applied to droplet impingement at various impact speeds and diameters to study the consequent splashing. This work provides a generic approach for highly multi-threaded SPH solvers, allowing massive computations for improved accuracy and/or numerous runs for parametric studies.
Affordable housing in Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030: new developments and new challenges

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the housing delivery within the Saudi Vision 2030 through an in-depth reading of the Saudi Vision 2030 from the researcher’s point of view and to identify the most significant aspects that may affect housing delivery in the country. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the desktop study technique was followed to review the key related literature, collect the data and analyze secondary data. The content analysis technique was used for data analysis of gathered documents and secondary data. Findings The findings reveal that there are several commitments in the Saudi Vision 2030 from the Saudi Government to be an exemplary leading nation in all aspects, including the delivery of affordable housing. Housing shortage, housing cost, demographic changes and land scarcity are identified as significant reasons for the lack of providing affordable housing. Research limitations/implications The opinions of policymakers is very important, but due to time limitation, it has not been addressed. Future research can assess the Saudi Vision 2030 based on the study of the policymakers, professionals and academics to have better insights. Originality/value The paper contributes to discussing the housing delivery within the Saudi Vision 2030 and identifying the most significant aspects that may affect the housing delivery from the researcher’s point of view. Only a few studies have discussed the housing issues within the Saudi Vision 2030.
Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Various Pretreated Dried Distillers’ Grains with Solubles

Dried Distillers’ Grains with Solubles (DDGS) is a popular animal feed that is mainly fed to ruminant livestock (i.e., cattle). However, because of its high fiber content, DDGS is limited in monogastric livestock (i.e., swine and poultry) and aquaculture diets. This causes low inclusion rates and reduced economic value of DDGS for these species. But there is possibility of breaking down the fibers using commercial enzymes. But the high cost associated with the use of commercial enzymes is a challenge with the industrial application of enzymes in feed application. Pretreatment (physical, chemical, and/ or biological) of high fiber containing feedstocks and/or lignocellulosic feedstocks prior to enzymatic saccharification can improve the overall fiber digestibility. Therefore, ranges of commercial enzymes were tested in this study. It was found the commercial enzyme that performed well at low enzyme dosages was Viscozyme L. The effectiveness of the Viscozyme L was significantly high (~280% increase in sugar recovery as compared to the untreated DDGS) when supplemented with the dilute acid pretreated DDGS as compared to the untreated DDGS. Citation: Baldwin EL, Karki B, Iten L, Gibbons WR (2018) Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Various Pretreated Dried Distillers’ Grains with Solubles. Adv Ind Biotechnol 1: 004.
HnRNPA1 and Its Effect in the Expression of ABCC (ABCC4 and ABCC6) Transporter in Glioma Cell Lines

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is classified as WHO grade IV Astrocytoma & is the most common highly aggressive form of primary brain tumor. Garde IV tumor are highly recurrent even after treatment, with patient survival rate is less than two years from the time of diagnosis. This might be due to overexpression of one of the factors such as ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters) responsible for drug resistance. ABCC transporter family a member of ABC transporter was found to mostly responsible for multi drug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells. On the other hand, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP’s) an alternative splicing factor play different role in various cellular process such as nucleic acid metabolism, transcription and translation regulation, among them hnRNPA1 is best studied and its aberrant deregulation favor development of cancer. This study was focused on to study the function of hnRNPA1 in the expression analysis of ABCC transporter (responsible for MDR) in glioma cell Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 9 July 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202007.0193. v1 © 2020 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license. 2 lines. The expression of ABCC transporter (ABCC4 and ABCC6) gene was examined in two glioma cell line i.e. U87MG and T98G in normal and knockdown two alternative variants of hnRNPA1 by Quantitative Realtime PCR and Reverse Transcription PCR. We found that ABCC4 was significantly overexpressed in hnRNPA1 Variant 2 knockdown cells (si hnRNPA1 V2) in U87 (3fold) and in T98G (18.34-fold), While hnRNPA1 Variant 1 knockdown cells (hnRNPA1 V1i) does not shows any significant effect. Further, the expression of ABCC6 was decreased in both hnRNPA1 V1i (0.40-fold) and hnRNPA1 V2i (0.48-fold) in U87. Reverse transcription-based result was complemented with normal PCR based detection strategy after running in agarose gel for U87MG and T98G glioma cell line. Finally, this result indicates that hnRNPA1 an alternative splicing factor regulate the expression of ABCC4 and ABCC6 transporter which are responsible for multiple drug resistance in cancer. This information will help in future for the development of an alternative method for the treatment of drug resistance cases in brain tumor and other tumors by targeting hnRNPA1 splicing factor. Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 9 July 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202007.0193. v1
Enhancing Learning Systems using Interactive Intelligent components

Following the invention of the teaching machine in 1924 by Sidney Pressey, there has been an evolutionary trend in the creation and promotion of software systems categorized as Learning Management Systems(LMS). Functionally, a typical LMS could be on-premise or cloud-based, however, one common feature canvassed is increased effectiveness. This paper focusses on enhancing effectiveness using intelligent components (e.g. algorithms, logic, etc,) to ease decisions on vital academic fronts. Emphasized here is the role of academic heads of departments in HEIs in effectively drawing the course allocation plan for a learning period. In large departments with many academic programs, courses, and lecturers, drawing a plan that fairly reflects capacity as to 'which teacher teaches what course', is an issue. This paper presents a systematic design of an intelligent component from the grounds up using the rapid application development(RAD) approach. The system underscores a posteriori knowledge on the part of the authors as to having significant experience on the modalities around academic activities across the different horizons and explores such to drive home the interestingness in enhancing the traditional practice through the deployment of intelligent interactive software. The prototype system is web-based with an android option and implemented using C#, ASP.Net Core, Xamarin forms; to enhance multi-platform support. The intelligent engine is driven by naïve bayes algorithm. The system is validated using two human experts who are presented with the histories of two courses and a handful of lecturers in a given department in a Nigerian HEI. The result of the validation shows that the advice given by the system is in tandem with the best decision an expert could have taken but would outperform a human expert when faced with scenarios as in large academic highlighted above. The paper concludes that the solution portends immense potentials and would ease the pressures and stress encountered by decision makers in fathoming capabilities of teaching staff vis-a-vis course cofferingsand with regard to the dynamic nature of academic activities in a typical HEI.
Effects of mobile news interface design features on users’ gaze behaviours and behavioural performance: evidence from China

ABSTRACT The increasing growth in the use of mobile news apps has raised questions on how their interface design features affect users’ gaze behaviours and behavioural performance. To tackle these issues, two experiments (visual browse and search tasks) were designed to investigate the impact of interface design features (colour and layout) on users’ gaze behaviours (fixation count, fixation time ratio and first fixation duration) and behavioural performance (task completion time and search accuracy) with a portable eye tracker. Twenty-four participants were recruited to browse and search for news in different mobile news interfaces with Chinese language. The results showed that mobile news apps with white interfaces attracted more attention and participants needed more time to comprehend the information of white interfaces in the visual browse task. Furthermore, participants achieved higher search efficiency in the visual search task by using interfaces with red keyword and LT-RP (Left Text-Right Picture). In addition, it is noticeable that participants paid more attention to the text than the pictures of mobile news interfaces, and most participants first looked at text and later observed pictures. The findings provide valuable and interesting insights for better understanding users’ gaze behaviours and behavioural performance of mobile news apps.
Wind Power Forecasting using A Heterogeneous Ensemble of Decomposition-based NNRW Techniques

Accurate and reliable wind power forecasting plays a vital role in the operation and management of power systems. Hence, it has become necessary to research and develop a high-accuracy wind power forecasting model. However, owing to highly nonlinear and nonstationary patterns of wind power time-series, creating a wind forecasting model capable of predicting such series accurately is both complicated and challenging. Aiming at this challenge, this paper introduces a new decomposition-based hybrid model based on multiple decomposition techniques, neural network with random weights (NNRW), and a linear combiner. In our approach, the original timeseries is decomposed into a collection of sub-series by different decomposition techniques. Each sub-series is modeled and predicted separately using NNRW. The predicted signals of each decomposition model are then reconstructed independently. Finally, all of the reconstructed results are integrated by the combiner using a linear combination method. The predictive performance of the proposed method was compared with other state-of-the-art techniques in over 12 wind power time-series. The experimental results show that the predictive performance of the proposed method remarkably outperforms the other competitors, proving the developed model to be effective, efficient, and practical.
Removal of Pathogens (Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella typhi), and nutrients from wastewater by Lactic Acid bacteria

Outbreaks of various forms of diarrhoea, particularly cholera and typhoid, are a frequent occurrence in low income countries. Poor water sanitation and hygiene practices are frequently implicated for all diarrhoeal out breaks in the low income countries. The present study assessed (i) the probiotic potential of selected strains of lactic acid bacteria in terms of their inhibition activities against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella typhi , and the removal of heavy metals in wastewater. The selected lactic acid bacteria had probiotic properties, namely resistance to low pH (pH2 and 3), tolerance to bile salts and sodium chloride, and significant antimicrobial activities against strains of E. coli O157:H7 and S. typhi ( p < 0.001). Strains of lactic acid bacteria were shown to modulate the concentration of aqueous Cu, Mn, NH4 + and Zn with a significant net decrease between Day 7 or 10 (p ≤ 0.05). The selected lactic acid bacteria were also shown to deploy biofilms on surfaces of sand particles, which are thought to constitute a mechanism by the lactic acid bacteria to hold and kill E. coli and S. typhi in wastewater. The lactic acid bacteria have exhibited great potential for use in the removal of diarrhoeagenic bacteria and heavy metals from wastewater.
Challenging the function of motor inhibition: Does it really assist action selection?

By applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) to elicit motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in muscles of the contralateral hand during reaction time (RT) tasks, many studies have reported a strong suppression of MEPs during action preparation, a phenomenon called preparatory inhibition. Several hypotheses have been put forward regarding the role of this inhibition, with the predominant view suggesting that it would help action selection. However, this assumption is still a matter of debate. Here, we aimed at directly addressing this idea by comparing MEPs in a task that required subjects to select a finger response within a set of predefined options (choice RT task: left or right index finger abduction) or when subjects simply had to provide the same finger response on every trial, in the absence of choice (simple RT task). Moreover, we minimized any effect that could be associated with other forms of inhibition. In both versions of the task, TMS was applied on both M1 (double-coil protocol) at several time points between the go signal and the left or right index finger response, eliciting MEPs bilaterally in the prime mover (index finger agonist) and in an irrelevant muscle (pinky agonist). Overall, MEP suppression was moderate in this study; it was only found for the irrelevant muscle. As such, MEPs in the index agonist were facilitated when elicited in a responding hand (e.g. left MEPs preceding left responses) and remained mostly unchanged in a non-responding hand (e.g. left MEPs preceding right responses). In contrast, MEPs were almost always suppressed in the pinky muscle when elicited in the non-responding hand and sometimes also in the responding hand. Importantly, this effect was more consistent in the choice than in the simple RT task, supporting the view that preparatory inhibition may assist action selection. Moreover, the fact that it sometimes concerned the responding hand is coherent with the idea of a global process, suppressing broadly the motor system. Highlights Addressed the debated idea that preparatory inhibition assists action selection Compared MEPs in simple and choice RT tasks (no catch, no delay) Detected preparatory suppression of MEPs, although weaker than usual Observed a more consistent suppression of MEPs in the choice than simple setting Provided support for action selection hypothesis, with traces of broad inhibition
Climate-driven biophysical changes in feeding and breeding environments explain the decline of southernmost European Atlantic salmon populations

The consistency of the global declining trend of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations suggests that climate-driven reduced survival and growth at sea are the main driving factors. The southernmost populations have experienced the greatest declines, consistent with harsher conditions in natal fresh waters. We analyzed temporal trends in Spanish Atlantic salmon, important food organisms at sea, and climatic variables in the breeding (fresh water) and feeding (marine) salmon areas from 1950 onwards to elucidate drivers of declining patterns. Salmon abundance dropped abruptly in 1970–1971, plausibly linked to widespread overfishing coincident with incipient changes in the marine food webs and freshwater hydrology. A major regime shift in biophysical conditions throughout the North Atlantic salmon feeding grounds occurred in 1986–1987, driven by the concurrence of an abrupt acceleration in the anthropogenic warming trend and the warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. This regime shift may be the proximate cause of the collapse of Spanish salmon observed in 1988–1989, which kept declining in parallel to trends of ever-increasing ocean and freshwater temperatures, decreasing river flows, and poorer marine trophic conditions.