Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nursing presence from the perspective of cancer patients: A cross-sectional study

Available online at: http://npt.tums. ac.ir Background & Aim: Nursing presence is an essential element of nursing care. Since the perception of nursing presence is influenced by different factors depending on the culture within which patients receive nursing care, this study aimed to investigate Iranian patients' nursing presence with cancer. Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, 130 cancer patients were selected by random sampling from an oncology teaching hospital. Data was collected by the Presence of Nursing Scale and analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The results showed that the mean score of nursing presence (in a range of 0 to 125) was 101.91±16.19. According to the results, the highest and lowest scores belonged to the items "I trusted in these nurses" and "These nurses met my spiritual needs" with a mean score of 4.38±0.81 and 3.68±1.16, respectively. Data analysis by Pearson correlation coefficient showed no significant correlation between the mean score of nursing presence and quantitative variables such as patients' age, length of stay in the hospital, and the number of hospitalization (p>0.05). Conclusion: Although the total score of nursing presence was high, improvements in some items such as fulfilling the spiritual needs of cancer patients seem necessary. Evaluation of nursing presence by valid measures, encouraging nurses to spend more time and interacting with their patients, and providing special courses on nursing presence could help nurses improve and implement oncology nursing.
BIOMASS GASIFICATION KINETICS: INFLUENCES OF PRESSURE AND CHAR STRUCTURE

ABSTRACT In this study, the gasification kinetics of chars from different biomass species have been investigated within the temperature range 800–950°C, CO2 concentrations of 10 to 100% v/v, and pressures between 1 and 20 bar using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The quartz wool matrix (QWM) method was used to simulate circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) conditions. The reactivity results obtained by the QWM method were compared with those extracted using TGA data. Kinetic data from TGA analyses was found to be compatible for predicting CFB gasification reactivity. Effects of pyrolysis pressure on the chemical structure of char and char conversion reactivities were also investigated. Pressure has been found to have no effect on reactivity during char conversion while having a dramatic effect on chemical and physical structure during the pyrolysis process. The Langmuir–Hinshelwood rate equation represents the pressurized radiata pine char gasification kinetics well. The Langmuir–Hinshelwood expression for studied conditions can be described as Kinetic data found in this study are in good agreement with the literature.
Synthesis and antibacterial activity of of silver nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles have been known to have inhibitory and bactericidal effects but the antimicrobial mechanism have not been clearly revealed. Here, we report on the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles of silver using wild strains of Penicillium isolated from environment. Kinetics of the formation of nanosilver was monitored using the UV-Vis. TEM micrographs showed the formation of silver nanoparticles in the range 10–100 nm. Obtained Ag nanoparticles were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against the gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. As results, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were effectively inhibited. Nanosilver is a promising candidate for development of future antibacterial therapies because of its wide spectrum of activity.
Synthesis of monodispersed gold nanoparticles with exceptional colloidal stability with grafted polyethylene glycol- g -polyvinyl alcohol

Herein, we report the synthesis of spherical gold nanoparticles with tunable core size (23-79 nm) in the presence of polyethylene glycol-g-polyvinyl alcohol (PEG-g-PVA) grafted copolymer as a reducing, capping, and stabilizing agent in a one-step protocol. The resulted PEG-g-PVA-capped gold nanoparticles aremonodispersed with an exceptional colloidal stability against salt addition, repeated centrifugation, and extensive dialysis. The effect of various synthesis parameters and the kinetic/mechanism of the nanoparticle formation are discussed.
DROUGHT HAZARD ASSESSMENT IN IRAQ USING SPI AND GIS SYSTEMS

The aim of this research is to find out drought periods, percent of occurrence and spatial distribution of drought in the whole of Iraq in order to reduce it and take the necessary precautions to face it. The study utilizes the standardized precipitation index (SPI) to determine drought depending on monthly rainfall data that were collected from 24 stations during the period 1950-2016. Short term drought represents agricultural drought taken for six months (SPI 6) and long term drought represents hydrological drought taken for twelve months (SPI 12). The results showed that the study area (Iraq) was exposed to varied drought especially in the last decades (19972016) for both long and short terms. To represent the results of SPI for April and October of 2015, the Geographic information system (GIS) was used with the aid of Inverse distance weighted (IDW). It can be seen that these months suffered from varied drought levels in different regions of Iraq ranging from mild to extreme drought.
Supporting an Online Investigation of User Interaction with an XAIP Agent

Human interaction relies on a wide range of signals, including non-verbal cues. In order to develop effective Explain-able Planning (XAIP) agents it is important that we understand the range and utility of these communication channels. Our intention is to develop an interactive agent, whose behaviour is conditioned on the affective measures of the user (i.e., explicitly incorporating the user’s affective state within the planning model). Accurate prediction of user affective state relies on real-time analysis of various predictors, which can require specialist equipment and calibration. However, the worldwide COVID-19 lockdown has meant that many intended lab-based experiments have now been moved online, making such real-time analysis impractical. As a result, we have developed a website to support a data gathering exper-iment, including a video stream (for facial expression analysis) with access to mouse positions and task performance, providing rich observations of the users as they interact with the agent and its plan. Underlying this system is the agent’s behaviour strategy, which must be computed in advance and captured efﬁciently. This paper describes the built system and the challenges we faced getting it ready for deployment.
Transfer learning with pre-trained deep convolutional neural networks for the automatic assessment of liver steatosis in ultrasound images.

AIM In this paper we proposed different architectures of convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify fatty liver disease in images using only pixels and diagnosis labels as input. We trained and validated our models using a dataset of 629 images consisting of 2 types of liver images, normal and liver steatosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS We assessed two pre-trained models of convolutional neural networks, Inception-v3 and VGG-16 using fine-tuning. Both models were pre-trained on ImageNet dataset to extract features from B-mode ultrasound liver images. The results obtained through these methods were compared for selecting the predictive model with the best performance metrics. We trained the two models using a dataset of 262 images of liver steatosis and 234 images of normal liver. We assessed the models using a dataset of 70 liver steatosis im-ages and 63 normal liver images. RESULTS The proposed model that used Inception v3 obtained a 93.23% test accuracy with a sensitivity of 89.9%% and a precision of 96.6%, and areas under each receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC AUC) of 0.93. The other proposed model that used VGG-16, obtained a 90.77% test accuracy with a sensitivity of 88.9% and a precision of 92.85%, and areas under each receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC AUC) of 0.91. CONCLUSION The deep learning algorithms that we proposed to detect steatosis and classify the images in normal and fatty liver images, yields an excellent test performance of over 90%. However, future larger studies are required in order to establish how these algorithms can be implemented in a clinical setting.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Organizational Performance: A Case of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

The study investigates relationship between corporate social responsibility CSR and organizational performance, a case of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study precisely focuses on the non financial performance of the bank which is proxy with customer retention ratio. Eight banks are included in the survey and all the data are sourced from the annual reports of the banks. Descriptive and Panel data analysis are applied. The results reveal that the impact of CSR on non-financial performance is not significant. The study recommends that Nigerian banks should harmonize commitment to corporate social responsibility spending with non-financial performance so as to reduce the intrinsic negative effect of allocating funds that could be used for sustaining growth and expansion of business to areas of social responsibility.
Running head: PARENTING GIFTED AND TALENTED CHILDREN Parenting gifted and talented children: challenges parents have and their role in children’s academic performance

The challenge of parenting gifted and talented children is becoming more and more relevant in Kazakhstan. It is well – known that gifted and talented children have specific educational needs that have to be identified and supported in a school system, and there are some obstacles in terms of parenting. The parents of gifted and talented children require assistance not only with providing their children with conditions to meet their educational needs but also with the issues of parenting such children. The aim of this research study is to explore parenting gifted and talented children in a selected Nazarbayev Intellectual school in Kazakhstan. This study also investigates the role of parents in children’s academic performance, and challenges parents face in rearing gifted and talented students. The purpose of the present study is to identify the challenges parents face and determine their roles in their talented and gifted children’s academic performance. The central research questions are as follows: a) What are the main challenges parents face supporting their gifted and talented children academically? b) What is the role of parents in their talented and gifted child’s academic performance? A total of seven face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted. The findings revealed that parents held two views, and that distinguish, among others. First, some parents believe that each child is gifted, whereas others think giftedness is an ability that can be identified and developed at a certain period of time. Second, parents are aware that gifted children are a very heterogeneous group of children and that they have diverse characteristics and needs that need to be addressed. Based on the results of this study, I have concluded that parents are lacking support and help in rearing their gifted children. Another finding is that parenting PARENTING GIFTED AND TALENTED CHILDREN vii talented children in a Kazakhstani context needs further studies to promote inclusive practices in rearing such children. PARENTING GIFTED AND TALENTED CHILDREN viii Воспитание одаренных и талантливых детей: проблемы родителей и их роль в успеваемости детей
A review of nitrogen fertilizer and conservation tillage effects on soil organic carbon storage

Abstract. The effects of nitrogen fertilizer and tillage systems on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage have been tested in many field experiments worldwide. The published results of this research are here compiled for evaluation of the impact of management practices on carbon sequestration. Paired data from 137 sites with varying nitrogen rates and 161 sites with contrasting tillage systems were included. Nitrogen fertilizer increased SOC but only when crop residues were returned to the soil; a multiple regression model accounted for just over half the variance (R2=0.56, P=0.001). The model included as independent variables: cumulative nitrogen fertilizer rate; rainfall; temperature; soil texture; and a cropping intensity index, calculated as a combination of the number of crops per year and percentage of corn in the rotation. Carbon sequestration increased as more nitrogen was applied to the system, and as rainfall or cropping intensity increased. At sites with higher mean temperatures and also in fine textured soils, carbon sequestration decreased. When the carbon costs of production, transportation and application of fertilizer are subtracted from the carbon sequestration predicted by the model, it appears that nitrogen fertilizer‐use in tropical regions results in no additional carbon sequestration, whereas in temperate climates, it appears to promote net carbon sequestration. No differences in SOC were found between reduced till (chisel, disc, and sweep till) and no‐till, whereas conventional tillage (mouldboard plough, disc plough) was associated with less SOC. The accumulation of SOC under conservation tillage (reduced and no till) was an S‐shape time dependent process, which reached a steady state after 25–30 years, but this relationship only accounted for 26% of the variance. Averaging out SOC differences in all the experiments under conservation tillage, there was an increase of 2.1 t C ha−1 over ploughing. However, when only those cases that had apparently reached equilibrium were included (all no till vs. conventional tillage comparisons from temperate regions), mean SOC increased by approximately 12 t C ha−1. This estimate is larger than others previously reported. Carbon sequestration under conservation tillage was not significantly related to climate, soil texture or rotation.
Polymer-supported nitroxyl catalysts for selective oxidation of alcohols

Novel non-toxic poly(ethylene glycol)-supported 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) moieties are demonstrated to give an excellent interfacial catalysis for the selective oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl species in biphasic media and investigation for the recovery of these new macromolecular catalysts via precipitation with diethyl ether after catalysis has also been briefly studied.
Individuals’ Behavioural Intention to Adopt Internet Banking System in Bangladesh- An Approach to Extend Technology Acceptance Model

The core purpose of this study is to investigate individuals’ behavioural intention to adopt internet banking services in Bangladesh. Importantly, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework based on previous literatures related to internet banking adoption using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with two additional constructs namely perceived enjoyment and social influence to determine internet banking adoption intention. A structured questionnaire was used to capture data from 326 citizens across Bangladeshi on the basis of convenience sampling. This study employed several statistical analyses (descriptive analysis, reliability test, correlation and regression analysis) to examine the predictors and their relationships with behavioural intention to adopt internet banking. The results reported that, perceived usefulness, social influence and perceived enjoyment were found significant predictors of individuals’ intention to adopt internet banking services in Bangladesh. The results also showed that the perceived usefulness has the highest significant impacts over social influence on the individual’s behavioural intention to adopt internet banking in this country. This study contributes theoretically to get an insight of extended TAM with perceived enjoyment and social influence for academic perspectives. Findings of the study can be beneficial for both government and private banks to improve their performances regarding enhancement of internet banking services in modern banking era.
Implementing the South African water policy: Holding the vision while exploring an uncharted mountain

This paper discusses the long-term implementation of the South African National Water Policy of 1997, and addresses some of the difficult issues of the management and leadership of large change processes. Although the vision established by the water policy is clear, actually achieving that vision on the ground will require a robust, flexible, long-term implementation plan that is supported by all the role players responsible for water management in South Africa: Government, water services authorities, water services providers such as water boards, catchment management agencies (CMAs), water user associations, research organisations and the private sector. In this paper, we advocate a strategic, adaptive approach to policy implementation, which equates to “learn-bydoing”, to meet the challenge of maintaining sufficient forward momentum in policy implementation, while still making sound decisions that take account of technical, environmental, economic, social and political factors.
Effect of surface roughness on slip flows in hydrophobic and hydrophilic microchannels by molecular dynamics simulation

The influences of surface roughness on the boundary conditions for a simple fluid flowing over hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces are investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The degree of slip is found to decrease with surface roughness for both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces. The flow rates measured in hydrophobic channels are larger than those in hydrophilic channels with the presence of slip velocity at the walls. The simulation results of flow rate are correlated with the theoretical predictions according to the assumption of no slip boundary condition. The slip boundary condition also strongly depends on the shear rate near the surface. For hydrophobic surfaces, apparent fluid slips are observed on smooth and rough surfaces. For simple fluids flowing over a hydrophobic surface, the slip length increases linearly with shear rate for both the smooth and rough surfaces. Alternately, the slip length has a power law dependence on the shear rate for the cases of hydrophilic surfaces. It is observed that there is a no-slip boundary condition only when shear rate is low, and partial slip occurs when it exceeds a critical level.
Think Neither Too Fast Nor Too Slow: The Computational Trade-off Between Planning And Reinforcement Learning

Planning and reinforcement learning are two key approaches to sequential decision making. Multi-step approximate real-time dynamic programming, a recently successful algorithm class of which AlphaZero (Silver et al. 2018) is an example, combines both by nesting planning within a learning loop. However, the combination of planning and learning introduces a new question: how should we balance time spend on planning, learning and acting? The importance of this trade-off has not been explicitly studied before. We show that it is actually of key importance, with computational results indicating that we should neither plan too long nor too short. Con-ceptually, we identify a new spectrum of planning-learning algorithms which ranges from exhaustive search (long planning) to model-free RL (no planning), with optimal performance achieved midway.
Comparison of elementary and humus composition of woody plants before and after burning

Abstract Charred woody plant fragments are widely distributed in Japanese Ando soils (Kurobokudo) containing Type A humic acids with a high degree of darkening. In this study, to gain more information about the nature, properties, and role of charred woody plants produced during the burning of vegetation by man and wild fires, the elementary and humus composition of non-charred and charred (at 250°C for 30 min) woody plants was compared. The woody plant samples used consisted of powdery debris of twigs and branches from 10 evergreen broad leaf and 10 deciduous broad leaf trees, as well as 10 coniferous trees. In all the woody plants studied, the carbon and nitrogen contents increased considerably after burning, while the hydrogen and oxygen contents and the H / C, O/ C, and C / N ratios decreased remarkably. Furthermore, after burning, the extraction ratios of humic and fulvic acids decreased markedly, while the degree of darkening of the humic acids increased substantially. Although the absorption curves of the humic acids obtained before burning showed the presence of lignin- and tannin-like structures, their specific absorption bands mostly disappeared after burning. In the charred woody plants, Type B humic acids (medium degree of darkening) predominated with a small proportion of Type A humic acids. It was very difficult to differentiate the 3 types of woody plant species based on the changes in various parameters of elementary and humus composition associated with the burning of woody plants.
Polarized Micro-Raman and FT-IR Spectra of L-Glutamine

The infrared, Raman, and polarized micro-Raman spectra of the amino acid L-glutamine and its N,N'-d5 derivative in the crystalline state have been recorded and measured. The data obtained were used to propose a general assignment of the vibrational fundamentals on the basis of the intensity changes observed from the polarized Raman spectra, the iso-topic shifts measured from the deuterated isotopomer, and the correlations with frequencies assigned for other amino acids and related molecules.
Non-catalytic direct growth of nanographene on MgO substrates

We have grown high-quality nanographene layers by alcoholic chemical vapor deposition on insulated MgO substrates without catalysts. Typical Raman spectra showed the formation of nanographene layers consisting mainly of sp2 bonds. Their grain size depended on the flow rate of the carbon source. Planar and triangular nanographenes were formed on MgO(100) and (111) substrates, respectively. The results suggested that the lattice orientation of the MgO substrate determined the morphology of nanographenes.
Ignition and Flame Propagation along Planar Monodisperse Droplet Streams

An experimental and numerical study is presented concerning the ignition of a fuel spray under well defined conditions. The development of a flame kernel that follows the generation of a plasma by a focused laser pulse and the subsequent flame propagation along five co-planar monodisperse streams of fuel droplets is investigated. High-speed video of the broadband luminosity and simultaneous fuel- and OH-PLIF provide qualitative and quantitative experimental data. Numerical simulations have shown that the focused laser pulse not only provides an energy/radical source for the ignition but is also responsible for transforming the droplets present in a small region into fuel vapor. Actually, without the quasi-instantaneous phase change there would not be enough vapor fuel to sustain the flame kernel under these time scales and surrounding conditions. The simulations are performed using an Eulerian-Lagrangian turbulent spray combustion code. Detailed chemistry is used to compute the laminar flame speed under relevant conditions, and a turbulent flame closure model (TFC) is then adopted for turbulence-chemistry interaction.