Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and Development of Multimedia E-Textbooks for School Education in Nepal

The digital form of textbooks as learning resources for school pupils has been analyzed and adopted in various developed countries. But Nepal has a low status of development in education and information and communications technology (ICT) domain compared to developed nations, which poses unique challenges to apply state of the art technology while creating e-textbooks as learning resources for school pupils. Literature has analyzed the use and efficiency of e-textbooks in the context of school education. Research studies have also reviewed multiple factors related to acceptance of the e-textbooks among school teachers and pupils. Even though the interface and functionality of e-textbooks have been discussed widely, wellestablished design layouts to develop multimedia e-textbooks are not yet available. This thesis work is early-stage design research to develop a prototype e-textbook system for school education in Nepal. The prototype e-textbook system is a web application to create and render e-textbooks. The rendered e-textbooks, which comprise a digital form of paper textbooks and educational multimedia, can be read via web browsers. While developing the prototype e-textbook system, a design framework on how to sequence, integrate, and display multimedia has been proposed. This framework can provide a way to deal with design issues of e-textbooks, such as making e-textbooks as familiar as paper textbooks and making their interface as self-descriptive as possible.
The counselling self-efficacy scale for teachers: action research

ABSTRACT The action research describes the process of how the Counselling Self-Efficacy Scale for Teachers (CS-EST) was developed and explores its suitability as a teaching and learning tool using a pilot study of 178 students at Tallinn University, Estonia. The study integrated action research, interdisciplinary project-based learning, scale development and adaptation principles. During six counselling courses the SC-EST has been used both from the third-person perspective of the action researcher to reflect on the learning outcomes of students and from the student’s first-person perspective to support reflecting on one’s own counselling skills. The study showed that counselling self-efficacy in prospective teachers significantly raised during the courses. The scale can be used as an online self-assessment task in conjunction with reflective journaling during university-level counselling courses, as the study showed that together they form a useful formative assessment tool. The SC-EST seems to be suitable for Estonian and international students, however larger international studies are needed to further validate the scale. I consider the action research as a transformative learning experience in my professional development.
Temperature Accelerated Life Test and Failure Analysis on Upright Metamorphic Ga0.37In0.63P/Ga0.83In0.17As/Ge Triple Junction Solar Cells

A temperature accelerated life test on Upright Metamorphic Ga0.37In0. 63P/Ga0.83In0. 17As/Ge triple‐junction solar cells has been carried out. The acceleration has been accomplished by subjecting the solar cells to temperatures (125, 145 and 165°C) significantly higher than the nominal working temperature inside a concentrator (90°C), while the nominal photo‐current (500×) has been emulated by injecting current in darkness. The failure distributions have been fitted to an Arrhenius–Weibull model resulting in an activation energy of 1.39 eV. Accordingly, a 72 years warranty time for those solar cells for a place like Tucson (AZ, USA), was determined. After the ALT, an intense characterization campaign has been carried out in order to determine the failure origin. We have detected that temperature soak alone is enough to degrade the cell performance by increasing the leakage currents, the series resistance, and the recombination currents. When solar cells were also forward biased an increase of series resistance together with a reduction of short circuit current is detected. The failure analysis shows that: a) several metallization sub‐products concentrate in several regions of front metal grid where they poison the silver, resulting in a two times reduction of the metal sheet resistance; b) the metal/cap layer interface is greatly degraded and there is also a deterioration of the cap layer crystalline quality producing a huge increase of the specific front contact resistance, c) the decrease of short circuit current is mainly due to the GaInP top subcell degradation.
Achievable Rates for Massive MIMO Relaying Systems With Variable-Bit ADCs/DACs

Focusing on massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) relaying systems with variable resolution analog- to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs), we derive the exact and approximate closed-form expressions for the achievable rate over Rayleigh fading channels. Numerical results reveal that the low-resolution DACs degrade the system performance much more than the low-resolution ADCs, and that the low-resolution ADCs and DACs achieve better energy efficiency. Moreover, provided that the total number of quantization bits is constrained, we find that the achievable rate is optimal when all ADCs and DACs adopt the same quantization bits from the perspective of statistic.
Performance Evaluation of Channel Decoder based on Recurrent Neural Network

Recently, recurrent neural network (RNN) has demonstrated superior performance for channel decoder, which motivates us to explore which RNN decoder can be more efficient. In this paper, we propose three kinds of RNN decoders, which are built upon long short term memory (LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU) and bidirectional gated recurrent units (Bi-GRU), respectively. The performance of these three RNN decoders are evaluated through lots of simulations, which indicate that the GRU decoder with simplest structure and least computational time, has similar bit error rate (BER) performance as that of the LSTM decoder. The Bi-GRU decoder has the best BER performance at the expenses of more computational time. However, it is prone to overfitting. Furthermore, we find that the BER performance of RNN decoders without dropout is better than that of the decoders with dropout when decoding models are underfitting, while the RNN decoders are better to dropout when decoding models are overfitting.
Core Components of Interventions for Prevention of Alcoholism in Adults: An Integrative Review

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the core components of interventions for prevention of alcoholism in adults and to present basic information for developing intervention programs for problem drinkers. Methods: The key words, ‘alcoholism’ and ‘prevention’ were used to search peer-reviewed evidence through ten electronic databases. Six electronic databases in English and four in the Korean language were searched to identify studies done between January 2005 and December 2015. Results: Examination of the fifteen articles revealed six kinds of interventions for prevention of alcoholism: Screening, Brief intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT); Brief Negotiate Interview (BNI); Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET); Screening Interventions Program for Sensible Drinking (SIPS); Stepped Care (SC) and Alcohol Reduction Program. Interventions were mainly focused on assessment of drinking behavior, investigation of alcohol-related problems, building a motivation for change, exploring the expectancies of drinking alcohol, strengthening change of behavior and continuous monitoring using motivational interviewing, empathetic feedback and coaching strategy. Conclusion: Findings show that the core components of interventions for prevention of alcoholism in adults are client-tailored approaches, formation of motivation to change, and continuous monitoring of behavior change. Motivational intervention is necessary to develop practical strategies to promote motivation to change for problem drinkers.
Literacia em saúde: tradução e validação de instrumento para pesquisa em promoção da saúde no Brasil

The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt, and test the psychometric performance of a questionnaire to assess health literacy. Brazilian university students (n = 472) with a mean age of 22.7 (5.3) years participated in the study. The validities of the factor, convergent, and discriminant structure were tested using structural equations analysis. The 4-factors model showed only fair results, but was nevertheless the most adequate in terms of factor validity and proved invariant in independent samples. Convergent validity was only adequate for the factor "Search for Health Information", while discriminant validity was adequate for the factors "Search for Information" and "Understanding Information". Internal consistency showed adequate results on all the items. The second-order hierarchical model, although not totally adequate, slowly slightly higher fit indices and thus allowed calculating an overall health literacy score considering each item's best weight.
The Textual History of the Ethiopic Old Testament Project (THEOT): Goals and Initial Findings

This article offers an introduction to the Textual History of the Ethiopic Old Testament (THEOT) project. This includes a description of the background to THEOT and its primary purpose of mapping the history of the transmission of the Ethiopic Old Testament. The bulk of the article summarizes the project’s preliminary findings, generally, and, in particular, about Ethiopic Psalms, Song of Songs, Deuteronomy, Ruth, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Haggai. Some attention is also given to evidences of contact with the Hebrew text tradition, although the Ethiopic is clearly a daughter version of the LXX.
Environmental Information System: Conceptual Framework of Supply Chain Process

The purpose of this study is to review the conceptual framework for supply chain process of EIS. Two supply chain process of EIS (technology and processes) had been identified. This study used IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics and analysed the data by using SPSS and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. For practical implications, this research provides important guidelines for manufacturer and related companies to implement the supply chain process of EIS in order to improve the supply chain and information system. Therefore, the identification of EIS is significant to the Malaysian manufacturing industry in order to improve the supply chain process.
Incidence of Contextual Variables on School Mathematical Achievement

The study of math achievement is fundamental. Its importance lies in analyzing what variables affect a significant percentage of students is not to reach their basic standards. In this sense, the contextual variables may become decisive. The purpose is to analyze data obtained after administration to a sample of students of an evaluation tool that measures mathematical competence. The data were analyzed from two contextual variables, ownership and environment centres, demonstrating statistically significant differences. The evaluation of the students should develop in all its scope, adequately considering the competences and the contextual elements that may influence their results.
Birds of a Feature: Intrafamily Clustering for Version Identification of Packed Malware

It is challenging for malware lineage inference to identify versions of collected malware by ensuring high accuracy in clustering. In this article, we tackle this problem and present a novel mechanism using behavioral features for version identification of (un)packed malware. Our basic idea involves focusing on intrafamily clustering. We extract the so-called family feature sets, i.e., hybrid features specific to each family. Our intuition is that family feature sets may achieve higher accuracy in clustering than common feature sets, and unpacked malware found in or relevant to such a cluster can result in the lineage inference of family members using traditional inference methods. We conduct experiments with two datasets, 8928 malware samples from VXHeavens and 3293 samples by manual analysis, composed of packed malware in a large portion. The results demonstrate that we can accurately classify samples into malware families based on the hybrid features we choose. In addition, we can also effectively extract family feature sets from 37 feature categories using forward stepwise selection. For intrafamily clustering, we employed the agglomerative clustering algorithm and observed that using family feature sets is significantly more accurate than using common feature sets, which facilitates higher accuracy lineage inference of packed malware.
OBESITY AND BALANCE CONTROL

Obesity affects balance control. There are two possible contributing factors to this reduced balance control: biomechanical and sensory. The increased mass, that is centrally located on the abdomen, causes an increased gravitational torque about the ankle joint. This increased ankle torque requires greater muscular strength and this introduces greater variability into the control system and results in larger body oscillations. The second component that has not yet been identified is suggested to result from the effects that an increased in body mass has on the plantar sole mechanoreceptors. These mechanoreceptors participate in body sway awareness and it is thought that the additional mass of the body may alter the sensitivity of these mechanoreceptors and reduce the quality of the feedback afferent signal and this may then lead to larger body sway. This thesis explores both of these hypotheses. In order to observe how muscular strength affects the mechanical contributions towards quiet standing we performed two separate projects. The first project evaluated how weight loss affected muscular strength and standing balance control. The second project involved measuring balance control in a group of athletic individuals who were well trained but had a body mass index (BMI) similar to obese individuals. Together, both projects demonstrated that balance control is not significantly associated by quadriceps maximal voluntary contraction strength in the obese population during normal quiet standing. In a third project, we evaluated whether obesity affects balance control in elderly females. To single out the role of obesity, balance control of normal weight elderly women was compared to that of obese elderly women. We found that obesity contributes to reduced balance control in elderly individuals. This has important implications as a falls risk factor in this population. We also performed two projects investigating the sensory contributions to reduced balance control. The first project involved cooling the plantar sole and measuring balance control. A short term effect of reduced balance control was found. This demonstrates that reducing the sensation of the plantar sole affects standing balance control. The final project in this thesis measured the effects of two things on plantar sole sensitivity; the effects of adding a short term mass to the body and the position of the center of pressure relative to a point of stimulation. In conditions with increased pressure on the plantar sole we found
A Pilot Study on the Detection of Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis in Hospital Based Population of Chennai, India

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with high mortality. Drug resistance is common in countries where the alternative treatments are limited and available drugs are misused. In resource limited countries like Ethiopia; it is wise to determine antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of common bacterial pathogens of CAP. The objective of our study was to determine antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of common bacterial pathogens of CAP among adult patients visiting Arba Minch Hospital. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted at Arba Minch Hospital, Southern Ethiopia from February to May 2013. Sputum specimens were collected; microbiological investigations and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed using standard procedures. Data was processed and analyzed with SPSS version16.0. Results: Out of 170 cases, only 73 (42.9%) were culture positive. Majority of tested bacterial isolates (>86%) were sensitive to Ceftriaxone and Ciprofloxacin. Most S. pneumoniae isolates (60%) were resistant to Oxacillin. Most of S. aureus and gram negative bacterial isolates were resistance to Tetracycline (100%), Penicillin (83.3%), Ampicillin (50-100%), Doxycycline (50-100%), and Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (83.3-100%). Multidrug resistance (MDR) was observed to most (60.3%) bacterial isolates. Conclusion: Antimicrobial resistance including MDR was observed to a number of commonly used antibiotics, such as trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole, penicillin groups and doxycycline. Hence, periodic monitoring of drug resistant pattern is essential for better management of CAP.
Effect of Propolis Administration on the Endocrine Functions and Histopathology of Pancreas in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

This study was performed to investigate the hypoglycemic properties of Propolis and their possible role on pancreatic's tissue. Diabetes mellitus was induced in 45 adult male albino rats and the animals were divided into three groups; Negative control group received standard diet; Positive group diabetic untreated group; Propolis treated group supplemented with (0.3 g/Kg/day) for 2 weeks after the induction of diabetes by streptozotocin. At the end of the experiment, blood was collected from the abdominal aorta. A heparinized tube was used for collection of plasma for measurement of lipid peroxidation products, insulin, glucagon and fasting blood glucose. Pancreas were isolated and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE), histoimmunological and morphometric factors were studied. The results of this study showed that Propolis was able to reduce blood glucose significantly compared with the diabetic untreated group. Hypercellularity and density of B cells increased in pancreatic tissue, islets size and percent of B cells increased significantly in Propolis treated group which may signify regeneration of islets or B cells in Propolis treated rats. In the current study, we have demonstrated that, both structural and functional improvements of pancreas. Further researches are highly needed to clarify the specific molecular and cellular targets of various constituents of Propolis.
Baccalaureate nursing students' lived experience of high-fidelity pediatric simulation: a hermeneutic phenomenological study

Changes in nursing educational programs have led to the incorporation of high-fidelity simulation (HFS) into clinical teaching, yet little is known about students‟ experiences with this teaching-learning modality. Therefore, this hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted to examine the lived experience of HFS for undergraduate nursing students in the context of pediatric nursing care. In-depth interviews were carried out with 12 students and were analyzed for themes using the approach of van Manen (1998). The essence of the experience is that it was eye-opening for the students. It was eye-opening in two ways. It was a surprisingly realistic nursing experience as reflected in the following themes: perceiving the manikin as a real patient, saving my patient‟s life, feeling like a real nurse, and feeling relief after mounting stress. It was a surprisingly valuable learning experience as reflected in the following themes: increased awareness of the art and science of nursing, increased recognition of the importance of teamwork, feeling more prepared for clinical practice, and wanting more simulation experiences. The findings from this study can be used to inform nursing education.
Toward realistic computer modeling of paraffin-based composite materials: critical assessment of atomic-scale models of paraffins

Paraffin-based composites represent a promising class of materials with numerous practical applications such as e.g. heat storage. Computer modeling of these complex multicomponent systems requires a proper theoretical description of both the n-alkane matrix and the non-alkane filler molecules. The latter can be modeled with the use of a state-of-the-art general-purpose force field such as GAFF, CHARMM, OPLS-AA and GROMOS, while the paraffin matrix is traditionally described in the frame of relatively old, alkane-specific force fields (TraPPE, NERD, and PYS). In this paper we link these two types of models and evaluate the performance of several general-purpose force fields in computer modeling of paraffin by their systematic comparison with earlier alkane-specific models as well as with experimental data. To this end, we have performed molecular dynamics simulations of n-eicosane bulk samples with the use of 10 different force fields: TraPPE, NERD, PYS, OPLS-UA, GROMOS, GAFF, GAFF2, OPLS-AA, L-OPLS-AA, and CHARMM36. For each force field we calculated several thermal, structural and dynamic characteristics of n-eicosane over a wide temperature range. Overall, our findings show that the general-purpose force fields such as CHARMM36, L-OPLS-AA and GAFF/GAFF2 are able to provide a realistic description of n-eicosane samples. While alkane-specific models outperform most general-purpose force fields as far as the temperature dependence of mass density, the coefficient of volumetric thermal expansion in the liquid state, and the crystallization temperature are concerned, L-OPLS-AA, CHARMM36 and GAFF2 force fields provide a better match with experiment for the shear viscosity and the diffusion coefficient in melt. Furthermore, we show that most general-purpose force fields are able to reproduce qualitatively the experimental triclinic crystal structure of n-eicosane at low temperatures.
Private Bayesian Persuasion with Sequential Games

We study an information-structure design problem (a.k.a. a persuasion problem) with a single sender and multiple receivers with actions of a priori unknown types, independently drawn from action-specific marginal probability distributions. As in the standard Bayesian persuasion model, the sender has access to additional information regarding the action types, which she can exploit when committing to a (noisy) signaling scheme through which she sends a private signal to each receiver. The novelty of our model is in considering the much more expressive case in which the receivers interact in a sequential game with imperfect information, with utilities depending on the game outcome and the realized action types. After formalizing the notions of ex ante and ex interim persuasiveness (which differ by the time at which the receivers commit to following the sender's signaling scheme), we investigate the continuous optimization problem of computing a signaling scheme which maximizes the sender's expected revenue. We show that computing an optimal ex ante persuasive signaling scheme is NP-hard when there are three or more receivers. Instead, in contrast with previous hardness results for ex interim persuasion, we show that, for games with two receivers, an optimal ex ante persuasive signaling scheme can be computed in polynomial time thanks to the novel algorithm we propose, based on the ellipsoid method.