Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Second-order systems approach to recreation provision in lower socio-economic communities

This study explored recreation provision in lower socio-economic areas from the paradigm of systems theory. It was postulated that by adopting a second-order systems approach rather than perpetuating a first-order systems approach, a positive social impact could be affected. The study was grounded in a qualitative, participatory research design. Data were collected through focus groups, vignette scenarios, semi-structured interviews and empirical observation in two lower socio-economic communities in South Africa. Participants included members of the lower socio-economic communities as well as external individuals and organisations providing help within the two communities. Results rejected the stated postulation and suggested that current recreation provision in the researched communities concurred with a first-order system and thus reinforced feelings of social exclusion. A definite pattern of learned helplessness, shifting responsibility and comfort with existing social existence emerged from the lower socio-economic community. However, when moving to the higher level of abstraction as provided by second-order systems theory it becomes clear that community recreation cannot be approached from an observer's point of view. It is recommended that a second-order systems approach be implemented that feeds on higher levels of recursion, shared reality that transform interaction between recreation providers and community from dominant-submissive to mutually beneficial. This change in interaction between the systems involved could result in the building of community capacity and possibly to the empowerment of community members.
A Survey of Teachers’ Experience in Implementing Yoruba Medium of Instruction in the Lower Primary Schools of Ikire Nigeria

The paper investigated the local implementation of the National Policy of Education (NPE) on the use of mother tongues or the languages of the immediate community. Using a case study approach of Yoruba medium of instruction in Ikire in the south-western part of Nigeria, data were collected from 50 teachers from both private and public schools. These respondents were selected on being able to satisfy the following conditions: first, they should be able to communicate in Yoruba; second, they should have adequate teaching experience; third, they should have good academic qualifications; and fourth, they should have been teaching, for more than a year, Elementary Science (the particular classroom subject the study examined being taught to the pupils). These conditions ensured the teachers engaged had cognate experience in teaching a science subject that can reveal the level of terminology development within Yoruba as an adequate medium of mother tongue instruction. The result affirmed the advantages of Yoruba medium of instruction over English; however, Yoruba was not exclusively used for the pupils contrary to the expectation in the mother tongue medium of instruction policy. Most of the teachers used in the study preferred to employ a bilingual mode of instruction combining Yoruba with English, claiming that English had better educational resources for the subject they were teaching. This paper, though, based on a local case study, can be used to estimate the expected limitation to be encountered while implementing mother tongue instruction in a similar linguistic domain. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Isolation and inoculation of diazotrophic bacteria in rice (Oryza sativa L.) grown in Vitoria da Conquista - BA

With the aim of isolating and inoculating diazotrophics bacteria, which is an efficient biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in rice in Vitoria da Conquista - Ba, the present study was carried out in three steps. In the experiment of inoculation of diazotrophics bacteria, BRS Tropical and BRS MG Curinga, inoculation with the strain of bacterium ZAE 94, absence of inoculation and four doses of N (0, 20, 60 and 100 kg ha-1) were used. The control plants were used for the implementation of the isolation of bacteria efficient as the BNF. Final experiment was carried out with the three isolated strain, the ZAE 94, the absence of inoculation and the interaction with doses of N. Inoculation with strains of diazotrophic bacteria, guaranteed an increase in agronomic variables studied with positive effects on production and grain up to 208.5%. Key words: Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), Herbaspirillum seropedicae, grain production.
Evaluation and improvement of student's question-posing ability in a web-based learning environment

With the rapid development of web-based learning environments, question-posing activities have become an important teaching and learning mode. However, this learning approach has some difficulties, one being the lack of a practical approach to assist teachers in evaluating the question-posing ability of all learners. To remedy this problem, the present study developed a system of integrating a reward mechanism into assessment activities, to measure the question-posing ability of individual students in a web-based learning environment. The system has been applied to a learning activity in a programming design course and 100 first-year college students were invited to participate in this research. After the experiment, the results showed the proposed system can serve as both a learning and an assessment tool in higher education, by encouraging students to carry out active learning, constructive criticism and knowledge sharing. A positive satisfaction is derived from the learning activities with the system under two dimensions of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Most importantly, students' learning performance improved significantly.
Computation in Analyzing Inflammation: A General Perspective

Immunology has grown as a great subject over the years and has evolved as an amalgamation of multiple disciplines and allied sub disciplines as per scientific investigation is concerned. Almost all living being responds towards the stimulation caused by their internal and external surrounding environment in a stepwise manner. Biologically, this is done through a number of cascading physiological and biochemical phenomena. Depending on the specificity, emergency and other important factors, the type of responses alters. Understanding these complex phenomena has been a challenge for the global scientific community since long time.
Rich networks: Evaluating university-high schools partnerships using graph analysis

Donna Llewellyn, Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Donna C. Llewellyn is the Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at the Georgia Institute of Technolgy. Donna received her doctorate from Cornell University in Operations Research and spent ten years on the faculty in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. Her primary research interests now are in the educational domain, specifically improving access and equity in STEM disciplines for underrepresented groups. Donna is the PI of the NSF GK-12 grant, STEP.
Adaptability, agronomic performance and genetic divergence of castor genotypes grown in the Cerrado-Pantanal ecotone.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE Biodiesel Caracteres agronomicos Dissimilaridade genetica Ricinus communis L. ABSTRACT: Under the hypothesis of distinction and characterization of promising genotypes in the genetic improvement of castor, the aim of this work was to evaluate the agronomic performance, phenotypic adaptability and genetic divergence between castor genotypes grown in the Cerrado-Pantanal ecotone. The experiment was conducted in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 in the experimental area of the State University of Mato Grosso do Sul UEMS. The treatments consisted of seven castor genotypes (BRS Energia, IAC 2028, IAC-Guarani, BRS Nordestina, BRS Paraguacu, IAC-80 and IAC-226) arranged in a randomized block design with three replications. The following agronomic characters were assessed: plant height, stem diameter, number of fruits and productivity. Data were subjected to individual and combined analysis of variance, and means were compared by the Skott-Knott test. Phenotypic stability was estimated with productivity data by the Lins and Binns method. Genetic divergence between the genotypes studied was determined by the methods of Ward’s and Tocher’s, using the Mahalanobis’s distance as dissimilarity measure. The BRS Energia genotype showed higher productivity and phenotypic adaptability. The crossing of the BRS Energia and BRS Paraguacu genotypes can produce a hybrid with high heterosis effect and, consequently, of high productivity.
Ecomicrobiology and microbial assimilative capacity of the oligotrophic Andean Lake Laja, Chile

La gran presion generada por el desarrollo socioeconomico del sur de Chile, esta causando cada vez mas un mayor impacto en los lagos y rios alli presentes. Sin embargo, el conocimiento de la estructura ecologica y la capacidad microbiana de autodepuracion de los cuerpos de agua lacustres es escasa, pero esencial para un futuro uso sostenible de los recursos agua y suelo. Se estudio el lago Laja, por ser un cuerpo de agua muy afectado por la extraccion de agua para la generacion de energia hidroelectrica y el riego. Como es caracteristico de la region andina, el lago Laja es oligotrofico limitado por nutrientes nitrogenados. Se encontraron bajas concentraciones de clorofila a y carbono organico particulado (POC), asi como bajas abundancias y biomasa de bacterias (principalmente ultramicrobacteria) y de flagelados heterotroficos. Interrelaciones troficas debiles se determinaron de la relacion bacterias y flagelados heterotroficos. Para las diez enzimas extracelulares estudiadas (fosfatasa, leucina-, arginina-, glicina- y tirosina-aminopeptidasa, a-, b-D-glucosidasa, a-, b-D-galactosidasa, N-acetyl-b-D-glucosaminidasa), con la excepcion de α-β-glucosidase, se analizo un amplio rango de actividad de degradacion sobre la materia organica. Probablemente, debido a la limitacion de nitrogeno, el N-organico hidrolizado por enzimas extracelulares alcanzo una actividad promedio de 45 %, comparada con otros estudios en aguas oligotroficas. El posible efecto de la limitacion de N en la actividad enzimatica extracelular, fue mas pronunciado en las tasas de la actividad enzimatica extracelular especificas, las cuales excedieron en un factor promedio de dos a las de otros cuerpos de aguas oligotroficos. En general, la actividad de todas las enzimas extracelulares microbianas estudiadas resultaron estar dominadas por enzimas externas disueltas libres (hasta el 98 %), mas que por ectoenzimas asociadas a particulas de materia organica (paredes celulares de bacterias, particulas y agregados). De esta manera es posible concluir que los futuros cambios socioeconomicos, reflejados en el incremento de cargas organicas e inorganicas, asi como el efecto del cambio global (cambios en temperaturas y precipitaciones), podrian provocar cambios significativos en la ecologia del lago Laja.
An XMM-Newton Study of the Mixed-morphology Supernova Remnant G346.6-0.2

We present an X-ray imaging and spectroscopic study of the molecular cloud interacting mixed-morphology supernova remnant G346.6–0.2 using XMM-Newton. The X-ray spectrum of the remnant is well described by a recombining plasma that most likely arises from adiabatic cooling and has subsolar abundances of Mg, Si, and S. Our fits also suggest the presence of either an additional power-law component with a photon index of ∼2 or an additional thermal component with a temperature of ∼2.0 keV. We investigate the possible origin of this component and suggest that it could arise from either the Galactic ridge X-ray emission, an unidentified pulsar wind nebula, or X-ray synchrotron emission from high-energy particles accelerated at the shock. However, deeper, high-resolution observations of this object are needed to shed light on the presence and origin of this feature. Based on its morphology, its Galactic latitude, the density of the surrounding environment, and its association with a dense molecular cloud, G346.6–0.2 most likely arises from a massive progenitor that underwent core collapse.
Hypolipidaemic Potentials of Vernonia amygdalina (Bitter Leaf) in male albino rats fed high-sucrose diet

Background: Increasing prevalence of obesity, overweight and metabolic syndrome secondary to excessive consumption of a high-sucrose and high-fat diet is a major global health problem. Objective: This study was meant to determine the h ypolipidaemic potentials of phytochemicals present in Vernonia amygdalina (Bitter leaf) in obese rats . Method: Thirty-two (6 weeks old, weighing 150-160g) male Wistar rats, were randomly selected and grouped into four: with eight rats in each group. The rats in the control group were fed normal rat chow and water while the three experimental groups were fed the various compounded diets and water ad libitum . At the end of 12th week, the animals fasted overnight, and Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) was performed in some while others were anaesthetized using diethyl ether. Fasting plasma, liver tissue lipid and lipoprotein levels were determined, and LDL-C was calculated. Result: Rapid weight gain (89.9%) was recorded in rats fed High Sucrose Diet [HSD] when compared with the control group (55.3%) without significant differences in the liver weight. The mean plasma glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-C levels were significantly higher (p = 0.000, p = 0.010, p = 0.000 and p = 0.002 respectively) while mean plasma HDL-C was significantly lower (p = 0.043) in rats fed HSD when compared with rats fed normal rat chow. A significantly lower plasma lipid and higher liver tissue HDL-C (p = 0.03) were observed in the Vernonia amygdalina -treated rats. Conclusion: HSD induces hepatic steatosis and the related biochemical changes while dietary Vernonia amygdalina ameliorates the biochemical changes in hepatic steatosis in rats.
A Review of Navigation Systems (Integration and Algorithms)

Significant developments and technical trends in the area of navigation systems are reviewed. In particular, the integration of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) has been an important development in modern navigation. The review concentrates also on the analysis, investigation, assessment and performance evaluation of existing integrated navigation systems of accuracy, performance, low cost and all the issues that aid in optimizing their operating efficiency. The integration of GPS and INS has been successfully used in practice during the past decades. However, much of the work has focused on the use of a high accuracy Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which is an inertial sensors block without navigation solution output, and hence, this research area is also reviewed in this paper.
Demand and Price Uncertainty: Rational Habits in International Gasoline Demand

The combination of habits and a forward outlook suggests that consumers will be sensitive not just to prices but to price dynamics . In particular, rational habits models suggest 1. that price volatility and uncertainty will reduce demand for a habit-forming good and 2. that such volatility will dampen demand(cid:146)s responsiveness to price. These two implications can be tested by augmenting a traditional partial-adjustment or error-correction model of demand. I apply this augmented model to data on gasoline consumption, as rational habits provide a succinct representation for the investment and behavioral decisions that determine gasoline usage. The trade-o⁄s among FE 2SLS, system GMM, and pooled mean group (PMG) estimators are considered, and my preferred estimators provide evidence of rational habits in a panel of 29 countries for the years 1990-2011. Such habits may help to explain some of the cross-country and cross-time variation in (cid:145)total(cid:146)price elasticity. These habits also imply that the e⁄ect of price uncertainty must be taken into account when projecting the impacts of potential policies on gasoline consumption.
Performance of Liabilities Accruing from Liberalization of the Banking Sector in Nigeria

This paper investigates the behavior of the banking sector with a view to ascertaining whether or not the deposit liabilities accruing from financial liberalization were efficiently applied by the sector to enhance performance. It is based on the experience of Nigeria which is a developing country that suffered severe and prolonged economic recession leading to the adoption of financial liberalization policy in 1986. The investigation yields interesting results which reveal that the effect of expansion in deposit liabilities on performance of the banking sector was indeed positive and highly significant. It follows therefore that the banking sector efficiently utilized the expanded deposits to enhance profit and hence the policy of financial liberalization largely benefited shareholders in the banking sector.
Best Simplicial and Double-Simplicial Bounds for Concave Minimization

We define two classes of lower bounds using either one or two simplices for the minimization of a concave function over a polytope. For each of them, a procedure is developed to compute the best lower bound of the class. These two lower bound procedures are embedded in a normal conical algorithm to solve the concave minimization problem. Computational results are presented.
Whispering Wind: Digital Practice and the Sustainable Agenda

Low frequency noise generated by aircraft during pre-takeoff, takeoff, landing and post-landing operations equates to high levels of undesirable ground noise pollution. This phenomenon is gaining heightened popular interest among air transportation specialists and agencies as urban settlements and airports expand beyond post-war city limits to meet demands of the 21st Century. This paper highlights the advantages of employing digital tools in tight collaboration with academics and professionals at the early stages of the design process and revisits ancient architectural design strategies to arrive at more meaningful and sustainable architectural interventions.
New resistive switching and self-regulating heating in foliated graphite/nickel polyvinyl chloride nanocomposites

Polyvinyl chloride- (PVC-) based nanocomposites containing nanosized graphite and nickel nanoparticles (GN) as conductive fillers to achieve positive temperature coefficient of resistance (PTCR) thermistors and self-regulating heater function have been successfully fabricated. The microstructure of the foliated graphite and nanocomposites was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of GN content on the static electrical conductivity, carrier's mobility, and number of charge carriers of the nanocomposites was studied. The applicability of nanocomposites as PTCR thermistors was examined by monitoring the conductivity as a function of temperature. It is found that the conduction mechanism in PVC/GN nanocomposites is governed by tunneling mechanism. Also, the applied voltage versus current and temperature were studied to check the applicability of composites as self-regulating heater. The results show that the PVC/GN nanocomposites might have potential applications in PTCR devices, self-regulating heater, and temperature sensors.
Overexpression of chimeric chitinase42 enhanced antifungal activity of Trichoderma harzianum against Fusarium graminearum

Evidence for the role of chitinases in biocontrol by Trichoderma species has been well documented.Chit42 lacks a chitin–binding domain (ChBD) which is involved in its binding activity to insoluble chitin. The objective of the present study was to enhance antifungal activity of T. harzianum by overexpression of wild type and hybrid forms of Chit42 containing chitin binding domain. To produce chimeric chitinase with improved enzyme activity, the hybrid chitinase was constructed by the adding of ChBD from Rhizopus oligosporus to the C–terminal end of Chit42 cDNA from T. atroviride using SoEing PCR. The recombinant hybrid chitinase (Chit42–ChBD) displayed a 1.56 fold higher chitinase activity than Chit42. This increase suggests that the ChBDmay play a role in helping the enzyme to bind better to the insoluble chitin. Moreover, Chit42–ChBD transformants showed higher antifungal activity towards Fusarium graminearum, the causal agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease in wheat.
Application of the two-microphone method for in-situ ground impedance measurements

The two-microphone method is a convenient and well-known procedure to measure the surface impedance in-situ. Its proposed implementation in an ANSI standard ("Direct Deduction of Ground Impedance") will contribute to it's wide use. The applicability and adequacy of this method for this purpose is investigated in this article. Measurements of the surface impedance of a number of grounds, which are carried out with the three ANSI S1.18 geometries, are presented. It is shown that the two-microphone method does provide reasonable results on not too hard grounds for frequencies above about 400 Hz, while the performance at lower frequencies and for hard grounds is poor. Practical advise is given on the number of measurements needed and the data pre-processing.
Crystal structure and cation distribution in freibergite and tetrahedrite

Abstract The crystal structure of a freibergite (Ag-tetrahedrite) from Keno Hill, Yukon, Canada, and a tetrahedrite from Turquetil Lake, NWT, Canada, have been refined. The freibergite, Cu5.84Ag4. 22Fe1.59Zn0. 43 Sb4.10AS0. 13S13, a = 10.610(2) Å, and the tetrahedrite, Cu10.24Fe1. 03Zn0.97Ag0. 05Sb3.66As0. 28S13, a = 10.364(2) Å, were both refined in space group I4̄3m. The refinements confirm that Ag does occupy the threefold coordinated metal site as first described by Kalbskopf (1972) and that Fe also occupies this site. The structural changes accompanying Ag substitution are described and a model to explain the upper limit of substitution at four atoms of silver for thirteen atoms of sulphur is proposed.
• MAXIMIZING NETWORKS LIFE TIME USING ENERGY EFFICIENT ENHANCING FORWARD AWARE FACTOR ROUTING PROTOCOL ON COOPERATIVE AND NON-COOPERATIVE FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

T he most interesting and challenging research areas in WSNs is maximizing networks lifetime using energy efficient enhancing forward aware routing on cooperative and non-cooperative or wireless sensor networks. Energy conservation is the primary challenge for WSNs and utilizing the energy efficiently during routing is an essential requirement and is a demanding task for all other research areas in WSNs. maximizing the Energy consumption and enhancing the lifetime of the network depending on routing protocols on cooperative and non-cooperative or wireless sensor networks are the main objectives in designing WSNs since the sensor nodes are battery operated and cannot be replenished or recharged frequently. Here A Routing Protocol (ACORP) is proposed for increasing the Wireless Sensor Network lifetime using Ant Colony Optimization meta heuristics.