Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Raw and Extruded Propionic Acid-Treated Field Beans on Energy and Crude Protein Digestibility (In-Vitro and In-Vivo), Growth and Carcass Quality in Grow-Finisher Pigs

Simple Summary European pig meat production is highly dependent on imported soybean meal (SBM). The area of field beans produced in the EU has increased greatly in recent years. There is renewed interest in field beans as an energy and protein source. Extrusion of raw ingredients can increase their nutritional value. It was hypothesized that propionic acid-treated field beans can be used to replace SBM in finisher diets and that extrusion of field beans will improve their nutritional value. Three experiments were conducted to determine the effect of extrusion of field beans on energy and crude protein digestibility (in-vitro and in-vivo), growth and carcass quality of grow-finisher pigs. Field beans are a good energy and protein source and can be fed at up to 37% inclusion in pig diets. Extrusion of field beans increased the digestible energy (DE) value, decreased the digestible crude protein (dCP) value of field beans, and had no effect on pig growth. Abstract The in-vitro ileal digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and crude protein (CP) of field beans treated with propionic acid (trFB) and extruded trFB (exFB) was determined in experiment 1. The DE and dCP values of trFB and exFB were determined using the difference method in experiment 2. The effect of replacing SBM with trFB and exFB in grow-finisher diets on growth, carcass quality, apparent ileal digestibility (AiD), and total tract digestibility (ATTD) of DM, OM, gross energy (GE), and CP were investigated in experiment 3. In exp. 1, in-vitro digestibility of exFB compared to trFB was unchanged for DM (p = 0.12), increased for OM (p < 0.05), and increased for CP (p < 0.05). In exp. 2, the DE value of trFB and exFB was 14.38 and 15.75 MJ/kg respectively; and the dCP value was 21.35% and 21.42% respectively (on DM basis). In exp. 3, ADFI was higher for pigs fed trFB and exFB compared to the control diet (CON; p < 0.05), while ADG, FCR and carcass quality parameters of pigs did not differ among treatments (p > 0.05).
Communicating vessels: drama and human rights education in in-service teacher training

This paper supports the contention that the methodologies of human rights education and educational drama share a common ground and that that the three fundamental dimensions of human rights education (HRE) (learning about, through and for human rights) can be addressed through drama. Our quantitative research is focused on an educational drama workshop for in-service teachers that dealt with human rights and refugees. The data was collected through questionnaires and analysed with reference to six hypotheses. These hypotheses were about how highly motivated teachers assessed their knowledge of human rights and their readiness for teaching human rights by using educational drama methodologies. The data showed statistically significant increase on all of the above hypotheses after the teachers had been trained. Their levels of readiness were also found to be significantly higher after the end of the school year. This indicates that the drama training had an impact on teachers’ human rights education.
Faculty’s Social Media usage in Higher Education Embrace Change or Left Behind

This paper addresses faculty members’ (academic staff) viewpoints on benefits, barriers and concerns of utilizing social media and also investigates differences with respect to their social media experience in teaching, age and the purpose of using social media. The data was collected through an adopted questionnaire from 324 faculty members of two public and two private universities in north part of Cyprus and was analyzed through descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results revealed that, although faculty members appreciate benefits of using social media, they do have concerns and they are aware of barriers almost as to same degree as benefits of using social media. Those who are familiar and have used social media before think more about concerns than those who haven’t used it. Elder faculty members possess less concern about using social media than their younger and middle age colleagues. Furthermore, the purpose (personal, educational, professional) of using social media has no effect on faculty members’ viewpoints on benefits, concerns and barriers of using social media. Abundant literature on social media usage from students’ perspective and relatively limited studies examining teachers/instructors point of views on social media use particularly for developing countries constitute the primary motivation behind the emergence of such research. Faculty members should be endorsed to adopt social media for instructional and professional purpose and misconceptions about using social media and barriers should be eliminated to enhance conscious utilization of social media for teaching.
Paraeducator-Delivered Interventions for Students with Extensive Support Needs in Inclusive School Settings: A Systematic Review

Schools have continued to rely on paraeducators to assist special education teachers and other professionals in the provision of special education and related services. Although paraeducators often support students with extensive support needs (ESN) in a range of school environments, the subset of intervention studies focused on paraeducators who support students with ESN in inclusive settings has not been systematically reviewed. The purpose of this literature review was to synthesize single-case research studies involving paraeducator-delivered interventions for students with ESN in inclusive school environments. Our findings suggest that research primarily has focused on communication and social skills interventions that involved paraeducator-facilitated peer supports in core academic classes and specials (e.g., art, music, physical education). Overall, paraeducator-delivered interventions resulted in improved student outcomes. Likewise, paraeducator training, which typically included an oral description, modeling, and/or performance feedback, was effective in improving paraeducator implementation of the target interventions. We present implications for practice specific to paraeducators who support students with ESN in inclusive settings and future research directions.
Improved steganalysis technique based on least significant bit using artificial neural network for MP3 files

MP3 files are one of the most widely used digital audio formats that provide a high compression ratio with reliable quality. Their widespread use has resulted in MP3 audio files becoming excellent covers to carry hidden information in audio steganography on the Internet. Emerging interest in uncovering such hidden information has opened up a field of research called steganalysis that looked at the detection of hidden messages in a specific media. Unfortunately, the detection accuracy in steganalysis is affected by bit rates, sampling rate of the data type, compression rates, file track size and standard, as well as benchmark dataset of the MP3 files. This thesis thus proposed an effective technique to steganalysis of MP3 audio files by deriving a combination of features from MP3 file properties. Several trials were run in selecting relevant features of MP3 files like the total harmony distortion, power spectrum density, and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) for investigating the correlation between different channels of MP3 signals. The least significant bit (LSB) technique was used in the detection of embedded secret files in stego-objects. This involved reading the stego-objects for statistical evaluation for possible points of secret messages and classifying these points into either high or low tendencies for containing secret messages. Feed Forward Neural Network with 3 layers and traingdx function with an activation function for each layer were also used. The network vector contains information about all features, and is used to create a network for the given learning process. Finally, an evaluation process involving the ANN test that compared the results with previous techniques, was performed. A 97.92% accuracy rate was recorded when detecting MP3 files under 96 kbps compression. These experimental results showed that the proposed approach was effective in detecting embedded information in MP3 files. It demonstrated significant improvement in detection accuracy at low embedding rates compared with previous work.
“Only My Husband and My Doctor Know. And You, Girls”: Online Discussions of Stigma Coping Strategies for Russian Surrogate Mothers

(1) Background: Gestational surrogacy is the most common type of surrogacy today. Although technologically well-developed and legal in many countries, it challenges and even contradicts the basic traditional concepts of family, motherhood, and gender roles. In the present study, we examined the types of stigma coping strategies surrogate mothers discussed in an online support group in post-Soviet Russia. (2) Method: We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of 15,602 posts on a Russian-language online support group for surrogate mothers. (3) Findings: group members discussed four types of coping strategies: stigma internalization, stigma avoidance, group identification, and stigma challenging. Nevertheless, these strategies varied across the surrogate motherhood stages. Group members advised each other on specific strategies to use to cope with the state of discreditable (invisible) stigma (i.e., during the first few months of their pregnancies), with different strategies for when the pregnancies became visible and they risked becoming discredited people. Furthermore, group members disclosed that they used these strategies even when they returned to their previous family and work routines. Theoretically, our findings challenge Goffman’s classic theoretical dichotomy and coping research concerning discreditable (invisible) and discredited (visible) stigma. (4) Conclusion: Our findings indicate that surrogate mothers anticipate experiencing stigma and therefore plan for it by discussing potential coping strategies in the online group. Moreover, any intervention designed to cater to the needs of surrogate mothers must, therefore, take into consideration the social needs of their entire family.
Validation of a 3D CBCT-based protocol for the follow-up of mandibular condyle remodeling

Objectives: Three-dimensional models of mandibular condyles provide a way for condylar remodeling follow-up. The overall aim was to develop and validate a user-friendly workflow for cone beam CT (CBCT)-based semi-automatic condylar registration and segmentation. Methods: A rigid voxel-based registration (VBR) technique for registration of two post-operative CBCT-scans was tested. Two modified mandibular rami, with or without gonial angle, were investigated as the volume of interest for registration. Inter- and intraoperator reproducibility of this technique was tested on 10 mandibular rami of orthognathic patients by means of intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC’s) and descriptive statistics of the transformation values from the VBR. The difference in reproducibility between the two modified rami was evaluated using a paired t-test (p < 0.05). For the segmentation, eight fresh frozen cadaver heads were scanned with CBCT and micro-CT. These data were used to test the inter- and intraoperator reproducibility (ICC’s) and accuracy (Bland–Altman plot) of a newly designed workflow based on semi-automated contour enhancement. Results: Excellent ICC’s (0.94–0.99) were obtained for the voxel-based registration technique using both modified rami. If the gonial angle was not included in the volume of interest, there was a trend of increased operator error suggested by significant higher interoperator differences in translation values (p = 0,0036). The segmentation workflow proved to be highly reproducible with excellent ICC’s (0.99), low absolute mean volume differences between operators (23.19 mm3), within operators (28.93 mm3) and low surface distances between models of different operators (<0.20 mm). Regarding the accuracy, CBCT-models slightly overestimate the condylar volume compared to micro-CT. Conclusions: This study provides a validated user-friendly and reproducible method of creating three-dimensional-surface models of mandibular condyles out of longitudinal CBCT-scans.
FORCED DEGRADATION STUDY OF STATINS: A REVIEW

Forced degradation study is the degradation of new drug substances and drug products in more severe conditions than accelerated conditions. Forced degradation study were conducted to demonstrate the specificity of stability-indicating methods, providing insight into degradation pathways and drug degradation products, assisting in the elucidation of degradation product structures, identifying degradation products that could be spontaneously generated during storage and use of drugs and to facilitate improvement in manufacturing process and formulation corresponding with accelerated stability studies. Statins, a class of lipid-lowering medications, are the most widely prescribed drugs and an example of an unstable drug. Statins are susceptible to hydrolysis in the presence of high temperatures and humidity. Therefore, the review discusses various studies of forced degradation studies in six statins drug (atorvastatin, fluvastatin, pitavastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin) to describe the drug's intrinsic stability thus it can assist the selection of formulations and packaging as well as proper storage conditions.
Lean Practices in the Process of New Product Development: Case of Study in a Food Industry Cooperative in Brazil

This article presents a case study of employees' perception of Lean Manufacturing in the development process of new products at a Food Industry Cooperative in Brazil. A survey was applied in all areas of the company to measure the perception and understanding of employees regarding Lean Management and Lean Thinking. Also, to understand their knowledge of the principles and practices in developing new products in the company. The results showed that 76% of the responding employees have some understanding of lean management. It also shows low engagement by stakeholders and the board in the new product development process stages and weak integration between areas, such as environmental, engineering, and finance. On the other hand, RD& area presented higher engagement, with 90% of its staff supporting this process.
Multiple LDPC decoding for distributed source coding and video coding

Distributed source coding (DSC) is a coding paradigm for systems which fully or partly exploit the source statistics at the decoder to reduce the computational burden at the encoder. Distributed video coding (DVC) is one example. This paper considers the use of Low Density Parity Check Accumulate (LDPCA) codes in a DSC scheme with feed-back. To improve the LDPC coding performance in the context of DSC and DVC, while retaining short encoder blocks, this paper proposes multiple parallel LDPC decoding. The proposed scheme passes soft information between decoders to enhance performance. Experimental results on DVC show that the LDPCA per-fomance implies a loss compared to the conditional entropy, but also that the proposed scheme reduces the DVC bit rate up to 3.9% and improves the rate-distortion (RD) performance of a Transform Domain Wyner-Ziv (TDWZ) video codec.
Resilience and Function in Adults With Chronic Physical Disabilities: A Cross-Lagged Panel Design.

BACKGROUND Resilience is a psychological construct referring to one's positive adaptation in response to adversity. Evidence suggests that resilience may contribute to various function domains in adults with chronic physical disabilities. PURPOSE To test hypothesized temporal associations between resilience and four function domains (anxiety, depression, social role satisfaction, and physical function) in individuals with chronic physical disabilities. METHODS Participants were 1,574 adults with one of four chronic physical disabilities (spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, or postpolio myelitis syndrome) who were participating in a large, ongoing USA-based longitudinal survey study. Three surveys were mailed on an approximately yearly basis. Resilience was assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10-item (CDRSC-10) and each function domain was assessed using the respective Patient Reported Outcome Measurement System (PROMIS) short-form. RESULTS Cross-lagged path models evidenced statistically significant reciprocal relationships between resilience and each function domain except physical function. The standardized lagged coefficients corresponding to resilience predicting social role satisfaction (T1-T2 = 0.09, T2-T3 = 0.09) had similar effect sizes as those corresponding to social role satisfaction predicting resilience (T1-T2 = 0.11, T2-T3 = 0.04), although resilience was a slightly stronger predictor in the second lag. In models assessing psychological function, resilience was a stronger predictor of later psychological function (resilience-to-anxiety, T1-T2 = -0.15, T2-T3 = -0.11; resilience-to-depression, T1-T2 = -0.21, T2-T3 = -0.13) than the inverse (anxiety-to-resilience, T1-T2 = -0.11, T2-T3 = -0.06; depression-to-resilience, T1-T2 = -0.12, T2-T3 = -0.05). CONCLUSIONS The study findings suggest that resilience is a significant prospective predictor of psychological and social function over time in individuals with chronic physical disabilities.
Human Astrovirus in Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Children: A Cross-Sectional Study on Hospitalized and Outpatients from Rural Communities of South Africa between 2017–2021

Human astroviruses are considered acute gastroenteritis agents (AGE) and are largely reported in children worldwide. There are limited data on astrovirus prevalence in rural communities, especially in hospitalized and asymptomatic cases. This study was a cross-sectional survey aiming to investigate the prevalence of classic human astroviruses in symptomatic and asymptomatic cases and hospitalized and outpatient children in rural communities of the Vhembe District, South Africa. A total of 236 stool samples (166 symptomatic and 70 asymptomatic) were collected from young children under 5 years of age. Real-time RT-PCR for astrovirus detection, RT-PCR amplification of capsid and polymerase partial genes as well as Sanger sequencing were performed. The classic astrovirus prevalence in symptomatic patients (7.23%, 12/166) as compared to healthy controls (4.29%, 3/70) was not statistically different (t-value: 1.782, p = 0.141: 95% CI). We did not observe a significant difference of classic astrovirus prevalence rate between the hospitalized group (6.52%, 3/46) and outpatient group (7.5%, 9/120). Symptomatic children below 6 months old were the most affected group (18.18%, 6/33). This study characterized human astrovirus genotype 2 and a putative recombinant strain (polymerase genotype 1/capsid genotype 2). Phylogenetic analysis revealed these genotypes are closely related to the strains circulating elsewhere within the African continent. The findings suggest that astrovirus is a common enteric pathogen in the study area. The results highlight the exposure of children and the need to monitor astroviruses for their potential impact in diarrhoeal diseases.
Returning to the virtual casino: a contemporary study of actual online casino gambling

ABSTRACT There is a greater need for contemporary research to empirically examine actual internet casino gambling behavior with valid data. To fill this gap in research, the current study examined two years (1 February 2015 to 31 January 2017) of prospective longitudinal data from 4,424 actual online casino gambling subscribers to one of the E.U.’s largest internet gambling services, including novel analyses of depositing and withdrawal behaviors. We found that today’s online casino gambling behaviors are similar to those observed 10 years ago in the E.U., with similarly small proportions of the player pool exhibiting more extreme gambling involvement than the rest. Some unique gambling behaviors (e.g. net loss), depositing behaviors (e.g. credit card use), and withdrawal behaviors (e.g. reversed withdrawals) distinguished more involved bettors from typical bettors. Our results suggest that, like a decade prior, most online casino players in our sample bet modest amounts and play relatively infrequently, yet a small percentage (approximately 5%) engage at disproportionately high and potentially risky levels. These findings are based on data from a single online casino operator and bettors in our sample might have gambled with other operators during the study period.
Analytical Model of Electromagnetic Performance for Permanent-Magnet Vernier Machines Using Nonlinear Exact Conformal Model

This article investigates the air-gap field distribution of the permanent-magnet Vernier machine (PMVM) using a nonlinear exact conformal model (NECM) to account for slotting effect, flux modulation effect, and iron nonlinearity. The exact conformal model (ECM) based on the region of one-slot and one-flux-modulation-pole (OSECM) are introduced to show the effectiveness of the linear analytical model for PMVM. It can keep high calculation accuracy and significantly reduce the computational burden. Then, the NECM is developed from OSECM by introducing the equivalent saturation current into the air region and coil region. The lumped parameter magnetic circuit model (LPMCM) model is used to obtain the magnetic potential of the iron region and therefore calculate the equivalent saturation current. The NECM which combines LPMCM and OSECM can essentially improve the accuracy of the linear analytical model. The harmonic analysis of the air-gap field is performed to theoretically explain the component of electromagnetic torque. Both finite element model (FEM) simulation and test results are presented to validate the NECM.
Molecular Structure Effect of a Self-Assembled Monolayer on Thermal Resistance across an Interface

Understanding heat transfer across an interface is essential to a variety of applications, including thermal energy storage systems. Recent studies have shown that introducing a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) can decrease thermal resistance between solid and fluid. However, the effects of the molecular structure of SAM on interfacial thermal resistance (ITR) are still unclear. Using the gold–SAM/PEG system as a model, we performed nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the ITR between the PEG and gold. We found that increasing the SAM angle value from 100° to 150° could decrease ITR from 140.85 × 10−9 to 113.79 × 10−9 m2 K/W owing to penetration of PEG into SAM chains, which promoted thermal transport across the interface. Moreover, a strong dependence of ITR on bond strength was also observed. When the SAM bond strength increased from 2 to 640 kcal⋅mol−1Å−2, ITR first decreased from 106.88 × 10−9 to 102.69 × 10−9 m2 K/W and then increased to 123.02 × 10−9 m2 K/W until reaching a steady state. The minimum ITR was obtained when the bond strength of SAM was close to that of PEG melt. The matching vibrational spectra facilitated the thermal transport between SAM chains and PEG. This work provides helpful information regarding the optimized design of SAM to enhance interfacial thermal transport.
Intelligent Classification of Different Types of Plastics using Deep Transfer Learning

: Plastic pollution has affected millions globally. Research shows tiny plastics in the food we eat, the water we drink, and even in the air, we breathe. An average human intakes 74,000 micro-plastic every year, which significantly affects the health of living beings. This pollution must be administered before it severely impacts the world. We have substantially compared three state-of-the-art models on the WaDaBa dataset, which contains different types of plastics. These models are capable of classifying different types of plastic wastes which can be reused or recycled, thus limiting their wastage.