Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of UTAUT model to assess ICT adoption in Kenyan public Universities

Despite many years of study and propositions of various models understanding the adoption of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)has been one of the most challenging issues. Uptake of new ICT innovations involves fulfilling many requirements ranging from technical to human. This study used the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model as an assessment framework to understand the student’s behavioral intention on acceptance and use of technology. The study was conducted at Moi university which is one the public universities in Kenya. Closed and open-ended questionnaires were administered to 500 students. Staff members who were involved in the management of the targeted information systems were also interviewed. A total of 414 questionnaires were returned accounting to 82.8% response rate. The reliability yielded Cronbach’s output of 0.8231. The results indicated that effort expectancy, performance expectancy and social influence factors affect the student’s behavioral intention, which ultimately affects adoption of web based information system. The model explained 78.24% of the variance of the student’s behavioral intention to use web based information systems. Among the moderating factors only course of study had significant effect on intention of adoption of web based information system. Notably, students who were taking ICT related courses such as Information Sciences, Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics had high adoption rate. The research findings from this study would be useful to institutions of higher learning, policy makers, researchers in the field, students and other stakeholders. Keywords: Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, UTAUT, ICT acceptance, Performance expectancy, Effort expectance, Social influence, Universities, Innovation
Structurally Stable Manganese Alkoxide Films Grown by Hybrid Molecular Layer Deposition for Electrochemical Applications

Hybrid molecular layer deposition (MLD) has significant potential for the creation of ultrathin electrochemically active materials, due to its ability to combine organic and inorganic species to modulate film properties. However, only a limited number of hybrid MLD processes are demonstrated with electrochemically relevant elements, such as manganese. Here, a “manganicone” manganese hybrid MLD chemistry is developed using the precursors bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)manganese and ethylene glycol. The resulting manganese alkoxide coordination networks are shown to have many interesting properties, including the ability to seamlessly fill high aspect ratio vias and the chemical conversion into manganese carboxylate in air over several hours at room temperature. Linear, self‐saturating growth is reported. Importantly, hybrid manganicone films annealed to 480 °C in air demonstrate a greater stability to restructuring during electrochemical testing than their inorganic counterparts grown by atomic layer deposition, without reducing the activity of the reactive sites on the manganese surface. Thus, hybrid manganese films grown by MLD have significant promise for use as catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction and as electrodes in thin film batteries.
Steady-state phase diagram of quantum gases in a lattice coupled to a membrane

In a recent experiment [Vochezer {\it et al.,} Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{120}, 073602 (2018)], a novel kind of hybrid atom-opto-mechanical system has been realized by coupling atoms in a lattice to a membrane. While such system promises a viable contender in the competitive field of simulating non-equilibrium many-body physics, its complete steady-state phase diagram is still lacking. Here we study the phase diagram of this hybrid system based on an atomic Bose-Hubbard model coupled to a quantum harmonic oscillator. We take both the expectation value of the bosonic operator and the mechanical motion of the membrane as order parameters, and thereby identify four different quantum phases. Importantly, we find the atomic gas in the steady state of such non-equilibrium setting undergoes a superfluid-Mott-insulator transition when the atom-membrane coupling is tuned to increase. Such steady-state phase transition can be seen as the non-equilibrium counterpart of the conventional superfluid-Mott-insulator transition in the ground state of Bose-Hubbard model. Further, no matter which phase the quantum gas is in, the mechanic motion of the membrane exhibits a transition from an incoherent vibration to a coherent one when the atom-membrane coupling increases, agreeing with the experimental observations. Our present study provides a simple way to study non-equilibrium many-body physics that is complementary to ongoing experiments on the hybrid atomic and opto-mechanical systems.
Weak metal lines in optical high-resolution Very Large Telescope and Keck spectra of “cool” PG 1159 stars

PG 1159 stars are very hot (effective temperatures Teff = 75 000–200 000 K), hydrogen-deficient (pre-) white dwarfs. They probably are the result of a late helium-shell flash that laid bare the He, C, and O rich intershell matter of the progenitor Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) star. Their chemical surface composition thus allows to conclude on details of AGB-star nucleosynthesis. Due to their very high effective temperatures, detailed spectral analyses are usually completely reliant on ultraviolet observations, except for some species in the hottest PG 1159 stars (Teff > 130 000 K), which do exhibit highly excited lines from the CNO elements and neon (C iv ,N v ,O vi ,N evii-viii) in optical spectra. Particularly problematic are, however, the coolest members of the PG 1159 class that exclusively show C iv lines in the optical. Access to the nitrogen abundance is important to decide which of the late-thermal pulse evolutionary scenarios was experienced by a particular star, while a high oxygen abundance is an important marker that the star could pulsate. In the present paper, we investigate high-resolution high signal-to-noise optical spectra of three “cool” PG 1159 stars (PG 0122+200, PG 2131+066, MCT 0130−1937, Teff = 80 000–95 000 K). With the help of non-LTE model atmospheres and synthetic spectra, we are able to identify a large number of weak CNO lines (C iii ,N iv ,O iii-v) that were not detected before in these stars. They allow abundance determinations and enable us to constrain the effective temperature to high precision through ionization equilibria without the requirement to access the ultraviolet spectral range.
Drought and extreme temperature tolerance for Tillandsia dasyliriifolia , an epiphytic bromeliad from the northern coastal dune scrubland in Yucatan, Mexico

The ecophysiological investigations about epiphytic plants have focused on the establishment of mechanistic explanations of how plants respond to changes in their environment. The main objective of this work was to assess the drought and extreme temperature tolerance of Tillandsia dasyliriifolia individuals growing in two coastal dune scrub sites with different precipitation patterns and microhabitat distribution. This study was focused on the effect of plant size on tolerance parameters. Drought and extreme temperature tolerance were evaluated in small (S1, 9 cm) and large individuals (S2, 35 cm). Tolerance between sites was not different but varied between size classes. Tillandsia dasyliriifolia shows moderate tolerance to drought in comparison to more succulent plants. The 50% of the leaves in small plants died after 40 days of drought and after 60 days for large plants. T. dasyliriifolia also exhibits moderate tolerance to extreme temperatures tolerance, small plants tolerate a temperature range from 11 oC to 40 oC and the range for large plants is a little broader (9 °C to 43 °C).
Feminist Anthropology and Critical Pedagogy: The Anthropology of Classrooms'

Critical pedagogy challenges the exclusionary practices of racism, sexism, ablism, and heterosexism in the dominant society. The exponents of critical pedagogy have rejected the traditional view of classroom instruction in favour of ap- proaches that challenge the status quo. In this paper, by reviewing some of my teaching experiences as a woman of colour, I demonstrate that not all teachers teach pedagogy in the same way. Based on my observations, I argue that debates on critical pedagogy should include voices from outside the dominant social groups and ethnicities, be they teachers’ or students’ voices. Furthermore, the success of teaching for social change depends on our ability to incorporate these critical approaches in conventional courses and subject matters where, in my experience, not all students would welcome unconventional classroom relations. La pedagogie critique conteste les pratiques d’exclusion que sont, dans les groupes sociaux dominants, le racisme, le sexisme, l’heterosexisme et la discrimi- nation fondee sur les deficiences. Les chefs de file de la pedagogie critique rejettent l’enseignement traditionnel au profit d’approches qui mettent en question le statu quo. Dans cet article, l’auteure demontre, tout en analysant certaines de ses experiences pedagogiques en tant que Noire, que tous les enseignants n’ensei- gnent pas la pedagogie de la meme maniere. Se fondant sur ses observations, l’auteure soutient que les debats sur la pedagogie critique devraient inclure des points de vue provenant d’ethnies ou de groupes sociaux non dominants, qu’il s’agisse des points de vue des enseignants ou des eleves. Le succes de la pedagogie eu egard aux changements sociaux depend de notre aptitude a incorpo- rer ces approches critiques dans les matieres et les cours traditionnels ou, d’apres l’experience de l’auteure, tous les eleves ne sont pas disposes a accueillir favorablement des methodes d’enseignement non traditionnelles.
Pengaruh Penggunaan E-Learning Klasiber terhadap Net Benefit di Universitas Islam Indonesia dengan User Satisfaction sebagai Variabel Intervening

Abstrak—Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui implementasi E-Learning Klasiber yang digunakan oleh Universitas Islam Indonesia di Yogyakarta untuk mendapatkan net benefit dari sistem informasi Klasiber yang diterapkan. Penelitian ini mengadopsi model DeLone and McLean 2003 dengan menguji lima variabel yaitu system quality, information quality, service quality, user satisfaction dan net benefit. Teknik analisis data dalam penelitian ini menggunakan SEM (Structural Equation Model). Responden dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 169 orang yang terdiri dari dosen dan mahasiswa yang menggunakan E-Learning Klasiber. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa system quality tidak berpengaruh signifikan terhadap user satisfaction, information quality berpengaruh signifikan terhadap user satisfaction. Service quality berpengaruh signifikan terhadap user satisfaction. User satisfaction berpengaruh signifikan terhadap net benefit. Kata kunci—E-Learning, system quality, information quality, service quality, user satisfaction, net benefit.
Modeling of Clay Liner Desiccation

The potential for the desiccation of clay liner component of composite liners due to temperature field generated by breakdown of organic matter in municipal solid waste landfills is examined using a model proposed by Zhou and Rowe. In these analyses, a set of fully coupled governing equations expressed in terms of displacement, capillary pressure, air pressure, and temperature increase are used, and numerical results are solved by using finite element method with a mass-conservative numerical scheme. The model results are shown to be in encouraging agreement with experimental data for a problem involving heating of a landfill liner. The fully coupled transient fields ~temperature, horizontal stress change, suction head, and volumetric water content! are then examined for two types of composite liner system, one involving a geomembrane over a compacted clay liner ~CCL! and the other involving a geomembrane over a geosynthetic clay liner ~GCL! It is shown that there can be significant water loss and horizontal stress change in both the CCL and GCL liner even with a temperature increase as small as 20°C. The time to reach steady state decreases as boundary temperature increases. Under a 30°C temperature increase, it takes 5 years to reach the steady state water content with a GCL liner but 50 years with a CCL liner. The effects of various parameters, such as hydraulic conductivity and thickness of the liner, on the performance of the liner are discussed.
Key features of thermochemical pretreatment induced lignin structure to saccharification and fermentation

This thesis is protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. By reading and using the thesis, the reader understands and agrees to the following terms: 1. The reader will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the thesis. 2. The reader will use the thesis for the purpose of research or private study only and not for distribution or further reproduction or any other purpose. 3. The reader agrees to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.
Small deformations of Helfrich energy minimising surfaces with applications to biomembranes

In this paper we introduce a mathematical model for small deformations induced by external forces of closed surfaces that are minimisers of Helfrich-type energies. Our model is suitable for the study of deformations of cell membranes induced by the cytoskeleton. We describe the deformation of the surface as a graph over the undeformed surface. A new Lagrangian and the associated Euler-Lagrange equations for the height function of the graph are derived. This is the natural generalisation of the well known linearisation in the Monge gauge for initially flat surfaces. We discuss energy perturbations of point constraints and point forces acting on the surface. We establish existence and uniqueness results for weak solutions on spheres and on tori. Algorithms for the computation of numerical solutions in the general setting are provided. We present numerical examples which highlight the behaviour of the surface deformations in different settings at the end of the paper.
Empirically testing the effectiveness of thermal imaging as a tool for identification of large mammals in the African bushveldt

Monitoring animal populations often relies on direct visual observations. This is problematic at night when spotlighting can cause misidentification and inaccurate counting. Using infrared thermography (IRT) could potentially solve these difficulties, but reliability is uncertain. Here, we test the accuracy of 24 observers, differing in experience and skill levels, in identifying antelope species from IRT photographs taken in the African bush. Overall, 38% of identifications were correct to species level and 50% were correct to genus/subfamily level. Identification accuracy depended on the confidence and skill of the observer (positive relationship), the number of animals present (positive relationship), and the distance at which it was taken (negative relationship). Species with characteristic features, horn morphology, or posture were identified with ~80% accuracy (e.g. wildebeest, kudu, impala) while others were considerably lower (e.g. blesbok, waterbuck). Experience significantly improved identification accuracy but the effect was not consistent between species and even experienced observers struggled to identify red hartebeest, reedbuck and eland. Counting inaccuracies were commonplace, particularly when group size was large. We conclude that thermal characteristics of species and experience of observers can pose challenges for African field ecologists but IRT can be used to identify and count some species accurately, especially <100m.
Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) regulates plasma membrane bleb formation by facilitating bleb retraction phase in cancer cells

Cancer cells migrate by using different membrane protrusions including plasma membrane blebs. Blebs are formed when the plasma membrane delaminates from the underlying cortex due to actomyosin contractility-induced increase in cytoplasmic pressure, and this causes influx of water and cytosolic fluid through aquaporins into the detached membrane resulting in its enlargement. In this study, we used a combination of molecular biology and microscopy techniques to examine the involvement of aquaporin 1 (AQP1) in bleb formation, and report for the first time that, siRNA-mediated knockdown of AQP1 inhibited bleb formation in both HT1080 and ACHN cell lines embedded in 3D matrigel matrix. In HT1080 cells, blebs resurfaced 48 h post-siRNA transfection, and this paralleled AQP1 protein expression, as shown by Western blotting. By using confocal and phase-contrast time-lapse microscopy to track bleb dynamics, we demonstrate that the re-emergent blebs had longer lifespan due to longer time of expansion, stabilization and retraction when compared with wildtype blebs. Furthermore, overexpression of GFPtagged AQP1 significantly increased bleb size, and also reduced bleb lifespan by conferring on the cells a shorter and faster bleb retraction time. To unravel the mechanism underpinning AQP1-facilitated bleb retraction, our data showed a requirement for the sodium-hydrogen exchanger (Na+/H+) activity, as inhibition of the pump’s activity attenuated bleb retraction. Similarly, and importantly, we demonstrate that GFP-AQP1 overexpression sufficiently induced blebbing phenotype in non-blebbing MDA-MB-231 cell line. Thus, AQP1 is a potential therapeutic target in combating cancer cell migration. *Correspondence to: Godwin A. Ponuwei, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences, Thompson Rivers University, Williams Lake Campus, Williams Lake, BC, Canada, E-mail: gponuwei@tru.ca
Adoption of improved agricultural technologies among smallholder farm households in Nakuru District, Kenya

Households are institutions that nurture, develop and sustain capabilities, material and social resources and activities necessary for their members to sustain livelihoods. This is possible through socialisation, communication, diffusion and adoption of improved technologies. In developing countries like Kenya, adoption of improved agricultural technologies is critical in facilitating households’ productive and consumptive capabilities and functions for better livelihoods. Yet, the adoption of such technologies remains low. Households are made up of male and female members whose roles, responsibilities, rights and entitlements often differ. Therefore, there is need to understand how the conditions supporting the adoption process vary across male and female farmers and within households. This paper adopts the livelihood systems framework in analysing the influence of socio-economic characteristics that influence men and women to adopt improved agricultural technologies. The field survey involved individual interviews with 190 randomly selected rural households from Nakuru District, Kenya. Data analysis procedures included descriptive statistics, factor analysis and a binary logistic regression model. Results indicate that men are more likely than women to adopt improved technologies while the propensity to adopt increases with increasing distance to market. Adoption is supported by social inclusion and peace and is more likely to occur among poorer, younger farmers, without skills for off-farm employment. Given that a wide range of male and female farmers’ socio-economic characteristics influence adoption, careful analysis should always precede all efforts aimed at encouraging adoption of new and improved agricultural technologies. Key words: Nakuru, Kenya, sustainable livelihoods framework, agricultural technology, adoption, gender, sustainable livelihoods.
Kinect Based System for Breast 3D Reconstruction

Breast cancer is, nowadays, one of the most severe diseases affecting women worldwide. The Breast Cancer Conservative Treatment (BCCT) appeared in the past few years as a reliable substitute for mastectomy as the preferred treatment: instead of removing completely the breast, the tumor is excised as well as some living healthy tissue. Some medical procedures associated with BCCT required volumetric and shape information about the breast. Such necessity motivates the usage of tridimensional (3D) reconstruction tools for 3D breast modeling. The commonly used reconstruction systems, although having high resolution, often require complex and costly hardware and expertise staff, not being easily implemented on the medical daily routine. This created the need for a practical tool that is easy to use, being able to reconstruct accurately the body structures. This work aims at designing a simple and affordable Kinect-based system for the 3D reconstruction of the breast. The RGB-D data obtained using the Kinect is used to generate point clouds, that are registered to obtain the reconstructed models. The proposed system relies on a Tessellation-based coarse registration methodology, that uses the Delaunay Triangulation principle and a color-validation stage to select robust keypoints and pre-align the point clouds. In addition, two newly designed evaluation metrics are proposed: one based on the polar representation of the reconstructed and the reference models; the other based on an histogram representation of the distances between the keypoints of the point clouds. The obtained results are promising and show that the tool here described is capable of performing a good reconstruction of the female breast in feasible time. The relevant and distinctive structures of the breast were correctly enhanced and reconstructed and a good performance was found even when dealing with low-overlapping and highly misaligned views. It is expected the implementation of this reconstruction system in an aesthetics outcome evaluation and/or surgery planning tool in a near future.