Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The possibility of producing graded Al2O3-Mo, Al2O3-Cu, Al2O3-W composites using CSC method

The subject of the study was the production and characterization of three ceramic-metal graded composites, which differed in addition of the metallic phase. The following composites systems were investigated: Al2O3-Mo, Al2O3-Cu, Al2O3-W. Composites were produced by centrifugal slip casting method. This technique combines the classic casting of the slurry into porous molds with the action of centrifugal force. As a result, sleeve-shaped shapes with a metallic phase gradient were obtained. X-ray phase analysis have not revealed new phases in the produced composites. The type of metallic phase and its distribution in the ceramic matrix influenced the hardness of the produced composites.
Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared by a Microwave Method in Ethylene Glycol and Polyethylene Glycol Media: A Comparative Study

Zinc oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by a sol-gel microwave assisted method using either ethylene glycol (ZnO-EG) or poly ethylene glycol ethanolic solution (ZnO-PEG) as dispersing media. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared. X-ray analysis revealed a hexagonal phase structure of both zinc oxides. The average crystallite size calculated from Scherrer equation was 27 nm and 53 nm in good agreement with 24 nm and 55 nm microscopic results for ZnO-EG and ZnO-PEG, respectively. The catalytic activity of the as-prepared nanoparticles was compared by the photodegradation of 2-nitrophenol under UVC. The effect of various parameters such as pH, catalyst weight, and pollutant concentration on the percent degradation was investigated. Best optimization was pH=7, 0.06g of nanoparticles weight, and 10 mg.L-1 pollutant concentration. Furthermore, pseudo first order kinetic based on Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model was proposed for degradation reactions and experimental data were in good agreement with this model.
The Influence of Water Content on the Settlement Behaviour of Polypropylene Fibre-Reinforced Dredged Marine Soil (DMS)

The use of fiber as soil reinforcement is not new in civil engineering field. In the earlier times, rice straw was mixed together with mud or clay to produce construction materials such as brick and concrete. Conventional concrete mix without fiber tends to exhibit brittleness behaviour. Hence, there is a growing attention on using current reinforcement materials such as steel, polypropylene and glass fibers. It is reported that fiber in concrete provide bridging effect, which transfer and distribute load evenly, thus increasing ductility. Now, similar concept of fiber inclusion in concrete can be applied to the case of problematic soil. The addition of chemical additives such as cement in soil resulted with stiffness and brittleness. As solution, numerous studies have shown that the fiber inclusion in soil have increased strength, permeability and ductility. Due to the many studies of fibre-reinforced soil related to its shear strength, the present study will investigate the compressibility behaviour of the fibre-reinforced soil through oedometer test. In this study, the dredged marine soil (DMS) was mixed together with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 % of polypropylene (PP) fiber. Two conditions of soil, namely high water content (1.40LL) and low water content (0.90LL) were tested. Samples with 0.90LL water content show great reduction of settlement than samples with 1.40LL water content. The outcome of this study will suggest the beneficial reuse of DMS for engineering application such as backfill material, land reclamation or clay liner for landfills.
Quantitative Morphological Changes of the Choroidal Vasculature in Normal Aged and Diseased Human Donor eyes

Introduction: To analyze whether the choriocapillaries undergo degenerative changes with age and disease. Corrosion casts of choroidal vessels in human donors were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the vasculature changes with age.Method: The patterns of blood vessels, vortex veins, ciliary arteries placements, capillaries placement from centre to periphery in different quadrants and regions of choroid were evaluated in twenty donor normal tissues aged from 20-90 years. Nine donors had diabetic donor tissues were evaluated in which different quadrants with laser marks and loss of blood vessels were quantified along with, six donors with signs of age-related macular degeneration were evaluated using a light stereoscopic dissection microscope. Six human donors were investigated by SEM of which two tissues were normal, two had diabetic retinopathy and two presented with age related macular degeneration changes. Result: The quantitative evaluation revealed that in normal to diseased there is a decrease of the blood vessel density in comparison to the total area of the choroid. There was also slight decrease from to centre to periphery in the % area of the blood vessel placement. Morphological identification noted was a greater number of vortex veins were noted in inferior end than the superior end. There was prominent loss of blood vessel bed was noted beneath the lasered areas in diabetic retinopathy tissues. Conclusion: Loss of % area of blood vessel density was directly correlating with the progression of age and in diabetic retinopathy diseased tissues we noted prominent loss of blood vessels underneath the laser treated areas. In age related macular degeneration, loss of blood vessels was prominent in different quadrants with age too.
PRUDENCE MEASUREMENT IS MODERATING EARNING OPACITY, INFORMATION ASYMMETRY, AND EARNING INFORMATIVENESS ON COST OF CAPITAL THREE- FACTORS MODEL

This study aims to examine and analyze whether earning opacity affects the cost of capital, information asymmetry affects the cost of capital, earning informativeness affects the cost of capital, prudence can moderate the effect of earning opacity on the cost of capital, prudence can moderate the effect of information asymmetry on the cost of capital, and prudence can moderate the effect of earning informativeness on the cost of capital. The method used in this study is a panel regression analysis. The sample used in the study was 900 observations using data from manufacturing companies for the period 2014-2018. This research model uses a new calculation formula for prudence. New measurement refers to the bias formula. This study consisted of five models. The results of the first model until the fifth model show that earning opacity (which is proxied by earning aggressiveness) and information asymmetry have a significant positive effect on the cost of capital. Earning informativeness has a significant negative effect on the cost of capital. Prudence weakens the effect of earnings opacity on the cost of capital. The results of the second model until the fourth model show that prudence weakens the effect of information asymmetry on the cost of capital and prudence strengthens the effect of earnings informativeness on the cost of capital. The implications of this research are the high risk will increases the cost of capital and the information asymmetry increases the risk of the company. Earning informativeness will reduce the level of risk of the company. Low risk will reduce the cost of capital. Earning quality and care funding decisions will reduce risk, so that the company's cost of capital becomes optimal.
Virtual screening for small molecular non-covalent binders of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of inhibitors for severe acute respiratory syndrome 3C-like protease based on phthalhydrazide ketones or heteroaromatic esters Targeting zoonotic viruses: structure-based inhibition of the 3C-like protease from bat coronavirus HKU4 - the likely reservoir host to the human coronavirus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Discovery of N-(benzo[1,2,3]triazol-1-yl)-N-(benzyl)acetamido) phenyl) carboxamides as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) 3CLpro inhibitors: identification of ML300 and noncovalent nanomolar inhibitors with an induced-fit binding Ligand-induced dimerization of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus nsp5 protease (3CL pro) [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Archives of Medical Science is the property of Termedia Publishing House and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
The military expenditures and economic growth nexus: Panel bootstrap granger causality evidence from NATO countries

The purpose of this study is to examine the causal linkage between military expenditures and economic growth in 27 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries. Different periods are studied due to the unavailability of data for the common period for all countries. Both the symmetric and the asymmetric causality between military expenditures and economic growth are investigated under cross-sectional dependence and panel heterogeneity by using the bootstrap panel Granger causality testing approach. The results indicate that there is both symmetric and asymmetric Granger- causality between military expenditures and economic growth, which vary from one country to another. The robust empirical findings support the military expenditures and economic growth nexus in 12 of the 27 NATO member countries. Moreover, the findings show that more empirical evidence between military expenditures and economic growth can be obtained when the asymmetric causality is considered, in addition to the symmetric causality. Keywords: Defense economics, Military expenditures, Economic growth, Asymmetric bootstrap Granger causality. JEL: C33, H50, H56, 047.
Improvement of pre- and post-tests and gender differences on TOEFL scores

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores are important for international students when applying to colleges in the United States. Hence, international students spend much of their time studying and receiving extra academic support in order to obtain higher TOEFL scores. Additionally, TOEFL scores have been explored through gender; however, there is a lack of study to determine whether there is an improvement difference within gender. The purpose of this study is to analyze whether gender plays a role in higher pre and post TOEFL scores prior to and at the end of taking a TOEFL class. The mixed ANOVA was performed to answer the following research questions; 1) Is there a significant difference between students’ pre and post TOEFL tests? , 2) Is there a significant difference of TOEFL scores by genders? , 3) Is there an interaction between male and female students’ pre and post TOEFL test scores? The result indicated that there was a significant difference between pre and post TOEFL test scores; however, there was no significant difference between genders. Moreover, the interaction was not shown between male and female students’ preand post TOEFL test scores.
Reflective practice across speech and language therapy and education: a protocol for an integrative review.

Effective co-practice is considered a linchpin of inclusive education. Speech and language therapists (SLT), in collaboration with teachers, are amongst the professionals who have a role in ensuring inclusion for students. The challenges of collaboration are well documented, with communication considered a potential antidote. Proposals for how collaborative communication can take place often align with models of reflection. Uncertainty around a shared language for reflection within and across the professions of teaching and SLT may pose a barrier to it occurring. Reflection has long been documented as a strategy used by effective clinicians to improve practice. Hence, teachers and SLTs reflecting together could be considered 'a port of entry' for effective collaborative practice. This study aims to synthesise literature and knowledge on the phenomenon of reflective practice across the professions to facilitate collaboration for inclusive education. The method of qualitative evidence synthesis will be an integrative review. A systematic search will be conducted to extract empirical studies, reviews and theoretical papers on the topic of reflection across both professions. An adapted version of the PRISMA reporting guidelines will be used in the development, design and reporting of this review. Four databases will be searched: CINAHL, SCOPUS, Education Source and ERIC. A web-based search will also be conducted to retrieve relevant policy documents. Included literature will be appraised using the M-MAT and an adapted checklist from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Deductive content analysis will endeavour to determine if a shared language exists about reflection, across the professions of teaching and speech and language therapy. Establishing a shared language represents a first step towards the development of a framework for collaborative reflection between teachers and SLTs. This is turn serves to inform future research, policy and practice regarding how speech and language therapist can work collaboratively with teachers in schools.
A Survey of Modern and Future Space Propulsion Methods

This thesis is the result of a survey of space propulsion methods, in the context of a fast manned mission to Mars. The capabilities of different technologies (chemical, non-chemical and advanced propulsion technologies) are explored to identify trends and evaluate their level of maturity. From the accessed literature, ”rules of thumb” were found regarding the specific impulse and thrust-to-weight ratio of different propulsion technologies. Additionally, we compare both results and establish new ”rules of thumb”. To accomplish this, a database was made with data found in the ”Web of Science” and in the NASA repository, A total of 249 space propulsion systems were identified, of which, 133 were chemicals, 90 non-chemicals and 23 advanced propulsion systems. With the information gathered in the database, 17 scatter plots were made. These plotted the specific impulse and the thrust-to-weight ratio as a function of different propulsion systems parameter of the different technologies. The results show that chemical propulsion is the more mature technology, however is limited to low specific impulse performances. Non-chemical propulsion offers improved performance over chemical systems, but the low maturity level of nuclear thermal propulsion systems and the low thrust-to-weight ratio of electrical propulsion. Advanced propulsion technologies are too far from present technological capabilities, the development of these systems would enable space missions scenarios unreachable with present technologies.
E-LEARNING CONTINUANCE INTENTION IN MALAYSIA: WHAT DETERMINES?

This study investigates the factors determine the e-learning continuance intention amonglearners in Malaysia. A total of 414 learners from public and private universities responded tothe structured questionnaire. The data collected was analyzed using the partial least squaresstructural equation modelling. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and subjectivenorms were found affecting continuance intention of the e-learning learners. Both perceivedusefulness and perceived ease of use also mediated the relationships among the variablestested. The findings of this study revealed that perceived usefulness was a significantindicator of continuance intention. Therefore, strategies need to be designed to optimize theusefulness of the system and to consider the direct and indirect significant indicators ofperceived usefulness to promote continuance intention of e-learning system among learnersin Malaysia. This study extends the knowledge on e-learning continuance intention byincluding subjective norms in addition to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use inthe technology acceptance model to explain behavioural intention. This study alsoincorporates the effect of system characteristics to user beliefs in explaining continuanceintention.
A two stage approach to solving a robust vehicle routing problem under demand uncertainty

In this thesis we consider the vehicle routing problem under demand uncertainty. The deterministic vehicle routing problem has been widely studied in all its variants, from time windows to pick-up and delivery stops combined. In the last decade it has become more and more important for companies to be flexible and competitive and to do so an efficient distribution is key. Hence the importance of routing vehicles
Exploring the use of syntactic dependency features for document-level sentiment classification

An automatic analysis of product reviews requires deep understanding of the natural language text by machine. The limitation of bag-of-words (BoW) model is that a large amount of word relation information from the original sentence is lost and the word order is ignored. Higher-order-N-grams also fail to capture the long-range dependency relations and word order information. To address these issues, syntactic features extracted from the dependency relations can be used for machine learning based document-level sentiment classification. Generalization of syntactic dependency features and negation handling is used to achieve more accurate classification. Further to reduce the huge dimensionality of the feature space, feature selection methods based on information gain (IG) and weighted frequency and odds (WFO) are used. A supervised feature weighting scheme called delta term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) is also employed to boost the importance of discriminative features using the observed uneven distribution of features between the two classes. Experimental results show the effectiveness of generalized syntactic dependency features over standard features for sentiment classification using Boolean multinomial naive Bayes (BMNB) classiﬁer.
Effect of Vitex agnus-castus ethanolic extract on hypothalamic KISS-1 gene expression in a rat model of polycystic ovary syndrome

Objective: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine system disruption that affects 6-10% of women. Some studies have reported the effect of Vitex agnus-castus (Vitagnus) on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis (HPG). This study was conducted to investigate Vitagnus effect on the expression of kisspeptin gene in a rat model of PCOS. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two female rats were distributed into: control, Vitagnus-treatment (365 mg/kg for 30 days), PCOS (Letrozole for 28 days) and PCOS animals treated with Vitagnus (30 days of Vitagnus after PCOS induction). At the end of the treatments, serum and ovaries were collected for analysis. Expression level of KISS-1 gene in the hypothalamus was investigated, using Real-Time-PCR. Results: In the PCOS group compared to control, FSH, progesterone and estradiol levels were decreased, whereas testosterone and LH levels were significantly increased. No significant changes were observed in the Vitagnus-treated animals in compare to control. However, Vitagnus treatment in the PCOS group, resulted in a raise in progesterone, estrogen and FSH levels and a reduction in the levels of testosterone and LH. Quantitative gene expression analysis showed that PCOS induction resulted in over-expression of KISS-1 gene, however, Vitagnus treatment reduced this up-regulated expression to normal level. Conclusion: In conclusion, our results indicated that Vitagnus extract inhibited downregulation of KISS-1 gene in the hypothalamus of PCOS rats. Because of the master role of kisspeptin in adjusting the HPG axis, Vitagnus is likely to show beneficial effects in the treatment of PCOS via regulation of kisspeptin expression. This finding indicates a new aspect of Vitagnus effect and may be considered in its clinical applications.
No type of forgiveness is an island: divine forgiveness, self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness

ABSTRACT Different types of forgiveness tend to be studied independently of each other. This study therefore investigated the interplay among divine forgiveness, self-forgiveness, and interpersonal forgiveness. Using two samples of 348 and 449 participants, we examined the relations among the three types of forgiveness and showed that they were positively correlated with each other. Divine forgiveness did not act as a third variable accounting for the relationship between self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness. However, divine forgiveness was shown to play a moderating role in the relationship between the two earthly types of forgiveness. Specifically, controlling for religiosity and impression management, divine forgiveness moderated their relationship in that self-forgiveness and interpersonal forgiveness were more highly related to each other as levels of perceived divine forgiveness increased. The unique features of divine forgiveness that might account for its moderating role in the self-interpersonal forgiveness association are identified and avenues for further research are outlined.
A Modified Memory-Efficient U-Net for Segmentation of Polyps

— Colorectal cancer, caused by an unusual growth of tissues in a body called polyp, is the third most prevailing cancer worldwide and remained the second most cause of deaths by cancer in 2020. Early stage detection of the cancer can prevent the deaths. Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system could be a major breakthrough for early detection of the cancer. The system uses image processing techniques. Among the image processing techniques segmentation has a great value. The diagnostic process results are highly dependent on the accuracy of performed segmentation. Nowadays, many supervised and unsupervised techniques are used for the task of segmentation. Deep neural networks have outperformed other state-of-the-art approaches for the task. In this paper, we present an end-to-end deep neural network for segmentation of polyps in images. The network is modified version of the U-Net architecture. The network being much more memory efficient than the U-Net architecture, inferences segmentation of the images more accurate than the U-Net. We reduce number of layers of the U-Net architecture both in the encoding and decoding path, and introduce residual blocks and batch normalization in the encoding path to prevent learning of redundant features, to avoid over-fitting and to accelerate the training process, and in the decoding path to avoid gradient vanishing issue in long dependence of the neural network during training we use bi-directional long short term memory network with batch normalization. We train and validate the network on Kvasir dataset for the task. The network accurately segments the polyp part in the images with 92 . 46% test accuracy.