Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effectiveness Of Visual Research In Enhancing The Cultural Knowledge And Practices In Creative Industry

This paper aims to explain the effectiveness of visual research to investigate cultural objects as the way to enhance cultural knowledge and practices in the creative industry. Based on the experiential study that was participated by the researcher, has discovered the factors that influenced the effectiveness in visual research based on the three different case studies which particularly on the cultural heritage of Parang Bajau at Kg. Siasai, Kota Belud, Ring Ladies of Embhan Community at Padawan, Sarawak, and Megalith Cultures of Kelabit Highlands at Bario, Miri. Through the comparisons based on the three case studies has identified three factors of visual research which is internal, external and the context of the research subject. These factors will contribute for better documentation, especially in visual, particularly for practicing researcher in the cultural studies, enhancing the information of cultural knowledge, developing the creative economy through the representation of visual cultures and most significant for the society purposes that own the culture.
Demand for Life Insurance and It’s Determinants at Household Level: Evidence from Dire Dawa City

The main aim of this study is to investigate the demand for life and its determining factors at household level in Dire Dawa city. For the sake of achieving this objective, primary sources of data were collected through structured questionnaire from a sample of 373 household respondents by applying a three stage multiple random sampling techniques. Moreover, data were also collected using face-to-face interview with insurance company managers and focus group discussion with some selected respondents. While descriptive narrations through concurrent triangulation strategy were applied to analyze the data collected using interview and focus group discussion, both descriptive tools and econometrics model (binary logit model) were employed to analyze the data collected using questionnaire. The result of the study revealed that the communities’ demand for and awareness on life insurance is low. Besides, the study indicated that age, educational level, income level, occupation, number of dependent family size, knowledge, awareness, institutional factors, religion and perception were found statistically significant factors that determine the communities’ willingness to purchase life insurance. Keywords: Demand, life insurance, awareness, perception, willingness and insurance policy DOI : 10.7176/RJFA/10-17-06 Publication date :September 30 th 2019
In vitro effects of propofol on apoptosis and Bax expression induced by TNF-α in mouse spinal cord neurons

Objective:To study the in vitro effects of propofol on apoptosis and Bax expression induced by TNF-α in mouse spinal cord neurons.Methods: Spinal cord neurons were isolated from fetal mice and cultured in neurobasal medium with B27 supplement.On the 7th day of culture,neurons were randomly divided into 6 groups:control group,propofol(50 μmol/L) group,TNF-α group,propofol(25 μmol/L) with TNF-α group,propofol(50 μmol/L) with TNF-α group and propofol(100 μmol/L) with TNF-α group.Propofol with different concentrations was incubated with cultured cells for 30 min,then TNF-α was added with the final concentration of 2 000 U/ml for another 24 h incubation.Apoptosis was detected by PI/Hoechst33342 double staining technique and fluorescence microscopy.Bax expression was determined by immunocytochemical technique.Results: The apoptosis rate and expression of Bax in TNF-α group were both increased compared with those in control group(([21.8±1.1]%) vs [2.8±0.8]%,P0.01;[0.251±0.016] vs [0.141±0.015],P0.01). The apoptosis rates and expression of Bax in 3 propofol groups(25,50,100 μmol/L) were([16.2±1.2]%,[15.3±0.6]% and [12.2±0.8]%) and (([0.198±0.011],)[0.188±0.012] and [0.167±0.014]),respectively,and they were all significantly decreased compared with those in TNF-α group([21.8±1.1]% and [0.251±0.0163],all P0.05). Moreover,a dose-dependent manner was observed in the above changes.Conclusion: Propofol within clinical concentration ranges may inhibit the apoptosis of spinal cord neurons induced by TNF-α through modulating the expression of Bax.
Influences of stress, individual and family processes on rural low-income children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors

Contextual stress (e.g., economic pressure, acculturative stress) places rural children at risk for adverse outcomes. Prior studies using rural samples to understand the stress processes at the individual and family levels have been predominantly dyadic in focus. Given family members are interdependent, it is interesting to explore whether family variables of particular interest on the family process as a whole can help explain the stress process. Guided by the family stress model, this dissertation used structural equation modeling to explore the relationships among contextual stress (i.e., economic pressure, acculturative stress), individual process (e.g., maternal depressive symptoms), family process (e.g., family rituals) and child behavior outcomes among rural low-income families in general as well as rural low-income families of Latinx origin. Data were collected from rural low-income mothers who participated in a multi-state project Rural Families Speak about Health (RFSH) and an outgrowth project focusing on rural Latinx immigrant families in the Midwest. Overall, the findings confirmed the significant roles of individual and family processes in the relation between contextual stress and rural low-income child behavior outcomes. In particular, the findings provided empirical evidence, albeit preliminary, to support the extension and elaboration of the FSM in ways that include family rituals as a mediator and acculturative stress as a contextual stressor specific to culture. In the first study, economic pressure was associated with more maternal depressive symptoms, which in turn was related to weaker co-parenting alliance. Family rituals might serve as a mediator between co-parenting alliance and child externalizing behaviors for rural lowincome families in general. The economic stress process did not vary by families with
Highly Potent and Vastly Conditional Instructional Practices: Variations in Use and Utility of Language Interactions for Kindergarten

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study of kindergarten monolingual and Dual Language Learners (DLLs) (N=263; mean age = 63.40 months) and their teachers (N=27) found significant mean differences in the observed quality of language interactions in classrooms with differing proportions of DLLs. Teachers instructing in classrooms with higher numbers of DLLs had lower levels of concept development and quality of feedback. Moderation findings revealed that interactions supporting concept development were particularly beneficial for DLLs’ vocabulary growth. Practice and Policy: Study results underscore the importance of using language interaction practices that cultivate higher-order thinking with DLLs.
Development of a short surrogate index for children’s socioeconomic status using house possessions and investigation of its validity

The study described here developed a short surrogate index for the children’s socioeconomic status (SES) using house possessions and investigated its validity. In Study 1, 192 pairs of parents and their middle school-aged children participated in a questionnaire survey. Based on the results, three items regarding possessions at home were selected for the short surrogate index out of the 17 items used in the Programme for International Student Assessment. Furthermore, the short surrogate index for the children’s SES was related to family income, parents’ academic background, and hierarchy consciousness. In addition, it was found to have good test-retest reliability, thereby demonstrating its validity. To confirm that the item selection and validity in Study 1 did not involve sampling error, Study 2 investigated the reproducibility of validity with a different sample. One hundred ninetyfive pairs of parents and their middle school-based children responded to the questionnaire, and the results redemonstrated the index’s validity. Studies in different disciplines using the short surrogate index can be conducted because SES can be both the main and confounding variable.
Early intervention intensity and language outcomes for children using cochlear implants

ABSTRACT Measurement of optimum treatment efficacy to address language delays in children using cochlear implants is difficult, but important, to promote evidence-based treatments and reduce treatment inequities. This exploratory retrospective study investigated associations between; frequency of early intervention (weekly, fortnightly, monthly); total dose (calculated in hours over a year); and child involvement in family activities on language outcomes for 42 pediatric cochlear implant recipients enrolled in aural/oral programs. Parents who attended the Cochlear Implant Clinic completed the Family and Educational Characteristics Questionnaires (FamEd-Q) at each post-operative review, and their children completed formal language assessments. Family and child demographic characteristics were collated. Children whose parents reported lower doses (in hours) of early intervention demonstrated better expressive language skills than children who received more intervention, but this result was confounded by other underlying differences between groups regarding age-at-first-implant and cognitive function. Additionally, children from families with greater relative socio-economic advantage tended to receive more frequent intervention sessions. Of practical significance, greater levels of child involvement in family activities were associated with higher child language scores.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlates of Dichotic Listening Performance in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology can cause disruptions in central auditory processing. Here, we applied quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to investigate the impact of global neurodegenerative processes on dichotic listening performance in MS. We studied 28 subjects with clinically definite MS and 26 healthy controls using 3T MRI and a dichotic digits task (DDT) performed in the scanner. Subjects with MS displayed increased white matter lesions, prolonged water proton longitudinal relaxation time constants in normal appearing white matter, reduced gray matter volumes, and reduced corpus callosum areas compared with controls. No group differences were found for any of the DDT performance measures. In subjects with MS, corpus callosum area was strongly correlated with DDT performance. This relationship remained present after controlling for other measures of neuropathology, suggesting that callosal atrophy directly impacts dichotic listening performance in MS.
Instructional leadership beliefs among Filipino pre-service teachers

In the teacher education context, there has been a call to pay attention to the preparation of pre-service teachers for instructional leadership roles necessary in today’s various school reforms. Nonetheless, because the integration of instructional leadership is relatively new in the Philippine teacher education curriculum, there is a dearth of research along with this aspect. With the increasing need for more research on instructional leadership, particularly on Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs), this exploratory study was undertaken. Using an in-depth interview, it examined the instructional leadership beliefs of Filipino pre-service teachers. Twelve (12) graduating pre-service teachers from a public university in Cagayan Province, Philippines became the study participants whose views, insights, and narratives were thematically analyzed. Interestingly, the results of the study revealed that pre-service teachers believe that instructional leadership is shared, learning-focused, a conversation, service-driven, and a pursuit of equity. These deepen the assertion that understanding the instructional leadership beliefs of pre-service teachers would promote instructional interventions that can empower them and advocate a viable instructional leadership framework not only in the Philippine context but in the ASEAN region as well.
Do publication activities of academic institutions benefit from formal collaborations with firms?

ABSTRACT While the existing literature has focused predominantly on how firms can benefit from collaborations with academic institutions such as universities and research institutions, this study explores whether the proportion of (formal) collaborations with different types of firm partners in strategic R&D alliances is associated with publications originating in academic institutions. The empirical analysis is based on a unique dataset of publications in pharmaceutical cancer research. The results suggest that the share of collaborations with industry partners has an inverted u-shaped relationship with the reputation of the journal in which an article originating in an academic institution is published. The share of alliances with pharmaceutical firms shows a similar inverted u-shaped pattern, suggesting that research originating in academic institutions can only benefit from alliances with pharmaceutical firms through resource inflows up to a threshold.
The Soft Skill Elements in an On-Job Training (OJT) (Organisation) Assessment Rubric for Construction Technology Students in Malaysian Vocational Colleges

During On-Job Training (OJT), students are assessed by using the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. However, soft skill elements in the current assessment rubric are quite general in assessing students according to the job scope for Diploma in Construction Technology. The items in the current assessment rubric are not specific to assess soft skills of site supervisors which are important in the construction industry. Therefore, this study aims to identify the soft skill elements for OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric for Construction Technology students. The research design for this study is a survey that was carried out quantitatively through questionnaires involving contractors of G4 to G7 as the population of this study and administered to 180 contractors by using simple random sampling. After document analysis and expert validation process, five items were selected to be the constructs of soft skills and 21 items were chosen to be the elements for soft skills. From the Rasch Model analysis which referred to the Infit and Outfit values, one item was discarded which was Item C05 because it showed out-of-range values for both the Mean Square Infit and Outfit as well as the Z Standard value for Infit and Outfit. This finding was validated by experts. As a result, only 20 elements were accepted to be elements of the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. However, according to the item polarity analysis, all 21 elements were accepted to be elements in the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. The data analysis also indicated that both item and person reliability were good. The five constructs identified from this study were communication skill, critical thinking and problem-solving skill, teamwork, ethics and professional moral and leadership skill. In conclusion, this study was able to identify specific soft skills for site supervisors which could help to solve the problem of the general assessment elements in the current OJT rubric. Students may use these elements as a reference for job scope during OJT. Therefore, it is suggested to conduct a study for determining the descriptors for the soft skill elements.
The Role of Attention in Perceiving Multiple Visual Dimensions: Testing Boolean Map Theory Using a Summary Statistics Paradigm

It has been demonstrated that observers are able to extract the statistical properties of a set of objects, such as the mean size of a set of circles, with surprising efficiency. However, debate surrounds the role of attention in this process, with some theorists claiming that it is ‘automatic’ and done ‘in parallel’, arising from a ‘preattentive’ processing stage. Conversely, other theorists claim that there is a limited attentional capacity for the perception of summary statistics. Further, there is more specific debate surrounding the processes by which summary statistics are computed across different dimensions of visual features simultaneously, such as mean orientation and size. Some findings suggest a cost of encoding two dimensions simultaneously (Emmanouil & Treisman, 2008), whereas others have found evidence of unlimited capacity encoding (Attarha & Moore, 2015b). The Boolean map theory of visual attention would claim that the limiting attentional factor in perceiving multiple visual dimensions simultaneously is stimulus exposure duration. In the current study, participants were shown a set of stimuli which varied in colour, orientation, and size for a fixed exposure duration of 200ms. They were tasked with attending to either one, two, or all three dimensions present in the stimuli. Results indicated that psychophysical performance decreased in terms of both decreased accuracy and increased response times as the number of dimensions attended to increased. The results suggest a bottleneck of selective attention caused by a fixed and difficult exposure duration, consistent with the predictions of Boolean map theory.
Indigenous Participation in Intercultural Education: Learning from Mexico and Tanzania

Intercultural education seeks to create a forum for integrating Western scientific knowledge and indigenousknowledge to address local and global challenges such as biocultural diversity conservation, natural resource management, and social justice for indigenous peoples. Intercultural education is based on learning together with, rather than learning about orfrom, indigenous communities. In the best examples, problem-based learning dissolves the dichotomy between indigenous and nonindigenous, resulting in full partnerships in which participants share expertise to meet mutual needs. With reference toliterature and two illustrative examples of intercultural education initiatives in Mexico and Tanzania, we present an originalconceptual framework for assessing indigenous participation in intercultural education. This incorporates a new ladder of participation depth (in relation to both curriculum content and decision making) alongside separate considerations of breadth, i.e., stakeholder diversity, and scope, i.e., the number of key project stages in which certain stakeholder groups are participating.The framework can be used to compare intercultural education initiatives in differing contexts and might be adaptable to other intercultural work.
Determination of material parameters by comparison of 3D simulations and 3D experiments

Computer-based materials design plays an essential role in the development of new materials. Accurate prediction of the materials behavior during manufacturing and applications relies on accurate and complete materials databases. Traditional ways of material parameters measurements typically use idealized samples and sample environments, which may not be representative of the engineering processing and real-life usage. Moreover, material parameters are typically measured one at a time; thus it is time-consuming and costly to measure material parameters with large spectrum. In this thesis, a fitting methodology is proposed to determine material parameters by comparison between 4D x-ray experiments and phase-field simulations. The evolution of material microstructures is measured at a condition that mimics realistic engineering manufacturing and applications with 3D non-destructive in situ x-ray techniques. Starting from one snapshot of the experimental microstructure, the evolution of the 3D material microstructure is simulated using a phase-field model. An iterative optimization technique is used to find the values of material parameters that yield the best match between the simulated microstructure and the measured microstructure in a global manner. The proposed method is demonstrated on a simple case to fit two material parameters: the liquid diffusion coefficient and the capillary length of a hypoeutectic Al-Cu alloy, and a complicated case to fit hundreds of material parameters: the reduced grain boundary mobilities of pure iron. Results show that the proposed method is capable of providing reliable measurements of material parameters that are difficult to measure in traditional ways and can determine many possibly all relevant values of material parameters simultaneously. Moreover, the method developed is broadly applicable to many materials systems and experiments that provide 3D microstructure evolution.
Bio-inspired Autonomous Visual Vertical Control of A Quadrotor UAV

Near ground maneuvers, such as hover, approach and landing, are key elements of autonomy in unmanned aerial vehicles. Such maneuvers have been tackled conventionally by measuring or estimating the velocity and the height above the ground often using ultrasonic or laser range ﬁnders. Near ground maneuvers are naturally mastered by ﬂying birds and insects as objects below may be of interest for food or shelter. These animals perform such maneuvers efﬁciently using only the available vision and vestibular sensory information. In this paper, the time-to-contact (Tau) theory, which conceptualizes the visual strategy with which many species are believed to approach objects, is presented as a solution for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) relative ground distance control. The paper shows how such an approach can be visually guided without knowledge of height and velocity relative to the ground. A control scheme that implements the Tau strategy is developed employing only visual information from a monocular camera and an inertial measurement unit. To achieve reliable visual information at a high rate, a novel ﬁltering system is proposed to complement the control system. The proposed system is implemented on-board an experimental quadrotor UAV and shown not only to successfully land and approach ground, but also to enable the user to choose the dynamic characteristics of the approach. The methods presented in this paper are applicable to both aerial and space autonomous vehicles. ﬂown at least 10 seconds for the visual motion parameters ﬁlter then the required autonomous visual control mode is engaged by a switch on the remote controller. A total of six experiments are shown here; the ﬁrst experiment demonstrates the autonomous visual landing achieved by the Tau strategy using a maneuver constant of k = 0 . 2 starting from height z 0 = 4 m and downward vertical velocity v z 0 = 0 . 77 m/s. The second experiment is performed from similar initial conditions ( z 0 = 4 . 6 m and v z 0 = 0 . 88 m/s) but using a different maneuver constant k = 0 . 45 . The height and vertical velocity for experiments 1 and 2 Figure respectively.