Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PREDICTING THE ADOPTION OF E-LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: A CASE OF SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

Despite the availability of studies on e-learning management system (eLMS) using information system models, its theoretical foundations have not yet captured social constructs that are peculiar to developing countries including Nigeria. This study was undertaken with the aim of investigating factors that could influence eLMS adoption in higher education. Drawing upon the Social Learning Theory (SLT), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and two other variables which are Technology Culturation and Power (electricity), an empirical based model was developed to identify predictors of eLMS. The study used Smart Partial LeastSquare-Structured Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the pattern of inter-correlation among the SLT and UTAUT constructs. The survey method of research was used by administering questionnaires to undergraduate students of 3 selected private universities in Ogun state, Nigeria with a sample size of 472. The results show that Attitude, Social Influence and Technology Culturation are strong determining factors of intention to adopt eLMS, while Performance Expectancy and Power do not significantly influence the Behavioural Intention to adopt eLMS. More so, Performance Expectancy and Behavioural Intention have positive influence on student grades. The results of this study will provide theoretical information on the intention to adopt eLMS and should be of interest to both researchers and education administrators in terms of planning and decision making.
A Comparative Evaluation of Matching and Tracking Object Features for the Purpose of Estimating Similar-View-Areas of 3-Dimensional Objects

The viewing hemisphere of a 3-dimensional object can be partitioned into areas of similar views, termed view bubbles. We compare two different procedures of generating view bubbles. On the one hand, local object features are tracked from one view to another by utilizing the continuity of successive views while the object rotates. On the other hand, the features are matched in different views which are assumed to be independent. We had a quantitative and a qualitative criterion of comparison (the size of the view bubbles and view similarities inside the view bubbles, respectively). To compare the sizes of view bubbles for both procedures we performed statistical analyses. For the qualitative comparison we assessed the correspondences provided by both procedures. The simulations were done on natural images of two objects. Both procedures, tracking as well as matching, proved to be appropriate to generate a distribution of view similarities on the viewing hemisphere. Canonical views arise. We could not find a difference between both procedures concerning the quantitative size criterion, but tracking outperforms matching concerning the qualitative condition. Tracking provides much more precise correspondences than matching. The continuous information seems to be neccessary to build the correspondences. Accordingly, tracking is the more appropriate method for recognizing the changes of features, whereas matching is more suitable if features of the same appearance are to be found. Our results are supported by related insights from psychophysical research.
The Plasticity of Harm in the Service of Criminalization Goals

The “harm principle,” which suggests that the State should criminalize conduct only if doing so is necessary to prevent harm to others, has long been at the center of debates about the legal enforcement of morality through the law. This Essay presents a series of original experiments that investigate the psychological “plasticity” of harm in the context of criminalization — i.e., the extent to which people may recruit harm to achieve desired outcomes within the terms of a given legal constraint. In the first study, we identified various scenarios that induced defiance of the harm principle, such that the participants wanted to criminalize the conduct even if they did not think that it caused harm to others. We then used these scenarios in a second study to investigate how people would respond when they were told that the law requires a finding of harm in order to impose a criminal penalty. As predicted, the respondents who were presented with the necessity-of-harm constraint continued to criminalize at the same rate, but they imputed harm to the conduct where harm was not previously reported. The third study demonstrated the directionality and universality of the harm plasticity effect by showing that a legally extrinsic ideological factor exacerbated the recruiting of harm among people on both sides of a controversial issue (abortion), without their recognition. The final study provided evidence for the nonintentional nature of this effect and pointed toward a pathway to potential remedies. These experiments reveal motivated, outcome-driven perceptions of harm that are at odds with the objective, perception-driven outcomes toward which the legal system strives. We discuss the implications of our findings for the criminal regulation of morality, constitutional law, and theories of punishment and moral reasoning. Furthermore, we consider the application of our results to legal decision making by lay people and professional adjudicators in the context of two high-profile Ninth Circuit cases. We conclude with a discussion of how to potentially reduce motivated cognition in legal judgments.
Riqueza de espécies de poríferos (Porifera, Demospongiae) coletados pelo Programa Antártico Brasileiro - PROANTAR (1983-1991)

The present study offers an increase for the knowledge of sponge fauna from antarctic region and also for its respective occurrence and distribution, based on some material collected by Brazilian antarctic expedition off Joinville I. , near to Bransfield Strait. Amongst the identified species, Iophon terranovae Calcinai & Pansini, 2000 and Myxilla (Ectyomyxilla) mariana (Ridley & Dendy, 1886) are recorded for the first time for this continental region, besides presenting new bathymetric limits; Haliclona (Rhizoniera)
Psychophysiological response to acoustic intensity change in a musical chord

This paper investigates psychological and psychophysiological components of arousal and emotional response to a violin chord stimulus comprised of continuous increases (up-ramp) or decreases (down-ramp) of intensity. A factorial experiment manipulated direction of intensity change (60–90 dB SPL up-ramp, 90–60 dB SPL down-ramp) and duration (1.8 s, 3.6 s) within-subjects (N = 45). Dependent variables were ratings of emotional arousal, valence, and loudness change, and a fine-grained analysis of event-related skin conductance response (SCR). As hypothesized, relative to down-ramps, musical up-ramps elicited significantly higher ratings of emotional arousal and loudness change, with marginally longer SCR rise times. However, SCR magnitude was greater in response to musical down-ramps. The implications of acoustic intensity change for music-induced emotion and auditory warning perception are discussed.
Moral Judgment: Truth, Order and Consequence

Often we make snap moral judgments based on limited information. For instance upon reading a newspaper headline we very quickly decide on whether the implied outcome is good or bad. However, in situations like this we are also likely to revise our judgments when we read the main story and the conclusion of the article. One question yet to be answered is whether we adjust our moral judgments in a systematic way as we gain more details about a moral scenario. Two experiments (lab-based, online) addressed this question along with the influence of other factors on moral judgments (the origin of the moral scenario, the severity of the consequence of the scenario). Across both experiments, moral judgments were: 1) generally adjusted downwards as more information was presented; 2) more severe for headlines than the main story or the conclusion; 3) more severe for scenarios that were fabricated than real life stories; 4) more severe when the conclusion involved a severe consequence than a non-severe consequence.
Mechanism of UV-light induced SO 2 oxidation to H 2 SO 4

The electron-excited chemistry of sulfur dioxide oxidation induced by UV irradiation of air with trace O3 and SO2 is considered. The importance of this mechanism is evaluated based on recent laboratory experiments on SO2 oxidation in a laminar tube with air induced by UV irradiation. Results show that under respective conditions the 5 route of SO2 oxidation involving electron excited oxygen molecules may be as efficient as a known OH-radical mechanism. Hence, an influence of UV irradiation on SO2 oxidation chemistry, if confirmed, may provide an additional external source affecting the oxidation and aerosol formation processes in atmosphere.
IASI observations of seasonal and day-to-day variations of tropospheric ozone over three highly populated areas of China: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong

Abstract. IASI observations of tropospheric ozone over the Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong areas during one year (2008) have been analysed, demonstrating the capability of space-borne infrared nadir measurements to probe seasonal and even day-to-day variations of lower tropospheric ozone (0–6 km partial columns) on the regional scale of highly populated areas. The monthly variations of lower tropospheric ozone retrieved from IASI clearly show the influence of the Asian summer monsoon that brings clean air masses from the Pacific during summer. They exhibit indeed a sharp ozone maximum in late spring and early summer (May–June) followed by a summer minimum. The time periods and the intensities of the maxima and of the decreases are latitude-dependent: they are more pronounced in Hong Kong and Shanghai than in Beijing. Moreover, IASI provides the opportunity to follow the spatial variations of ozone over the surroundings of each megacity as well as its daily variability. We show here that the large lower tropospheric ozone amounts (0–6 km partial columns) observed with IASI are mainly downwind the highest populated areas in each region, thus possibly suggesting the anthropogenic origin of the large ozone amounts observed. Finally, an analysis of the mean ozone profiles over each region – for selected days with high ozone events – in association with the analysis of the meteorological situation shows that the high ozone amounts observed during winter are likely related to descents of ozone-rich air from the stratosphere, whereas in spring and summer the tropospheric ozone is likely enhanced by photochemical production in polluted areas and/or in air masses from fire plumes.
Numerical Analysis of Film Cooling at High Blowing Ratio

Computational Fluid Dynamics is used in the analysis of a film cooling jet in crossflow. Predictions of film effectiveness are compared with experimental results for a circular jet at blowing ratios ranging from 0.5 to 2.0. Film effectiveness is a surface quantity which alone is insufficient in understanding the source and finding a remedy for shortcomings of the numerical model. Therefore, in addition, comparisons are made to flow field measurements of temperature along the jet centerline. These comparisons show that the CFD model is accurately predicting the extent and trajectory of the film cooling jet; however, there is a lack of agreement in the near-wall region downstream of the film hole. The effects of main stream turbulence conditions, boundary layer thickness, turbulence modeling, and numerical artificial dissipation are evaluated and found to have an insufficient impact in the wake region of separated films (i.e. cannot account for the discrepancy between measured and predicted centerline fluid temperatures). Analyses of low and moderate blowing ratio cases are carried out and results are in good agreement with data.
Differences of Zinc and Copper Levels In Placenta Blood Normal Neonates and Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Zink and copper are the micronutrients which play a role in the growth and development of fetal and infant. Its deficiency in pregnant women shall give a birth the restriction fetal growth 16,11. This research is proposed to distinguish zinc and copper levels in normal neonates and those restriction fetal growth.The research was conducted with a comparative cross sectional analysis, experienced by three hospitals those are TK III Reksodiwirjo Hospital, Dr. Rasidin Hospital, and Bayangkara Hospital in the city of Padang. It also conducted in the SMAK Padang Chemistry Laboratory in November 2016 - January 2018. The research sample was taken from newborn blood centers for 60 respondents by consecutive sampling. Zinc and copper levels were examined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Hypothesis testing was done by unpaired t testing.The results showed the average zinc level in restriction fetal growth group was 89.34 ± 31.53 µg / dL and normal neonates were 122.703 ± 39.3 µg / dL with p = 0.01. The mean copper content in the restriction fetal growth group was 0.5142 ± 0.15 µg / dL and the normal neonate was 0.6892 ± 0.17 µg / dL with p <0.01The conclusion of this research is zinc and copper levels in normal neonates were significantly higher than neonatal zinc and copper levels restriction fetal growth.
The Role of Fcγ Receptors in Myocardial Diseases and Atherosclerosis

Myocardial diseases and atherosclerosis are widely considered to be an immune mediated process. Fcγ receptors (FcγRs) contribute to the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses and have been implicated in human cardiovascular lesions. Major cell types involved in the pathogenesis of the diseases express FcγRs and their ligands such as immune complexes and C-reactive protein have been shown to activate FcγRs signal pathway. This review summarizes recent significant progress addressing the various roles of FcγRs in the disease pathogenesis which comes from the studies of FcγRs deficient animal models, clinical investigations and in vitro molecular and cellular studies. These new findings help us appreciate the emerging role of FcγRs in cardiovascular diseases, and suggest FcγRs as a potential therapeutic target for the diseases.
Molecular Identification of Vibrio harveyi From Larval Stage of Pacific White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) Boone (Crustacea:Decapoda)By Polymerase Chain Reaction and 16S rDNA Sequencing

A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, motile and halophilic bacterium identified as Vibrio harveyi was isolated from hatchery-reared larval of Iran Shrimp Research Centerfollowing mass mortality . Seven isolates of Vibrio spp.were collected from nauplii of Litopenaeus vannamei and then were evaluated for characteristics including morphology, physiology and biochemistry. The results indicated that the isolates belonged to a single species that grew on Thiosulfate citrate- Bile Sucrose agar and in 1.5 to 6% NaCl, positive lysine and ornithine decarboxylation and susceptible to O/129 disk. Identification of Vibrio harveyi strainIS01 (1 of 7 isolates) was confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction assay for Vibrio harveyi (expected amplicon 1493 bp). The 16S ribosomal DNA sequence (National Center for Biotechnology Information, GenBank accession number GU974342.1) gave 99% sequence identity to V. harveyi ATCC: 35084 (GenBank accession number EU130475.1).
Page 1 of 6 MODEL PREDICTIVE BASED LOAD FREQUENCY CONTROL DESIGN

In this paper, A new load frequency control (LFC) using the model predictive control MPC technique is presented. The MPC technique has been designed such that the effect of the uncertainty due to governor and turbine parameters variation and load disturbance is reduced. A simplified frequency response model is introduced, and physical constraints of the governor and turbine are considered in this model. The model was employed in the MPC structure. Digital simulations for a single control area are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. The results show that, with the proposed MPC technique, the system performance has a good robustness in the face of uncertainties due to governor and turbine parameters variation and load disturbance. A performance comparison between the proposed controller and a conventional integral control scheme is carried out confirming the superiority of the proposed MPC technique.
Département de Pharmacologie et Toxicologie WNT SIGNALING IN DROSOPHILA NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTIONS

Drosophila neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) represent a powerful model system with which to study glutamatergic synapse formation and remodeling. Several proteins have been implicated in these processes, including components of canonical Wingless (Drosophila Wnt1) signaling and the giant isoforms of themembrane-cytoskeleton linker Ankyrin 2, but possible interconnections and cooperation between these proteins were unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the heterotrimeric G protein Go functions as a transducer ofWinglessFrizzled 2 signaling in the synapse. We identify Ankyrin 2 as a target of Go signaling required for NMJ formation. Moreover, the Go-ankyrin interaction is conserved in the mammalian neurite outgrowth pathway. Without ankyrins, a major switch in the Go-induced neuronal cytoskeleton program is observed, from microtubule-dependent neurite outgrowth to actin-dependent lamellopodial induction. These findings describe a novel mechanism regulating the microtubule cytoskeleton in the nervous system. Our work in Drosophila and mammalian cells suggests that this mechanism might be generally applicable in nervous system development and function.
Automatic detection of speech disorder in dysarthria using extended speech feature extraction and neural networks classification

This paper presents an automatic detection of Dysarthria, a motor speech disorder, using extended speech features called Centroid Formants. Centroid Formants are the weighted averages of the formants extracted from a speech signal. This involves extraction of the first four formants of a speech signal and averaging their weighted values. The weights are determined by the peak energies of the bands of frequency resonance, formants. The resulting weighted averages are called the Centroid Formants. In our proposed methodology, these centroid formants are used to automatically detect Dysarthric speech using neural network classification technique. The experimental results recorded after testing this algorithm are presented. The experimental data consists of 200 speech samples from 10 Dysarthric Speakers and 200 speech samples from 10 age-matched healthy speakers. The experimental results show a high performance using neural networks classification. A possible future research related to this work is the use of these extended features in speaker identification and recognition of disordered speech.
Development of an ultrastructure preservation protocol for platelet and fibrin networks utilizing high pressure freezing and subsequent comparison of new and established protocols

Abnormalities in the structure of fibrin fibers and blood platelets have been broadly studied and well correlated to functional abnormalities in the coagulation system due to disease, genetics or environmental factors. The importance of these and further ultrastructural investigations of fibrin fiber networks and platelets is therefore paramount in understanding © University of Pretoria iii the aetiology of haemorrhagic or thrombogenic tendencies and disorders. To study structural abnormalities and variations of fibrin fibers and platelets, electron microscopy is essential; unfortunately the use of electron microscopy necessitates several preparation steps to make a biological specimen stable enough to withstand the high vacuum environment of an electron microscope and also electron beam irradiation. The two most common procedures to accomplish this is chemical fixation and freeze fixation. Chemical fixation entails the chemical alteration of a specimen by means of the introduction of chemical bonds and cross-links that keep molecules and structures in place, followed by several rinsing and dehydration steps. Freeze fixation preserves biological specimens by the removal of thermal energy from the specimen at an extremely fast rate (> 10 In this study, methods to fixate fibrin fiber and platelet networks by freeze fixation was developed, optimised and subsequently compared to chemical fixation methods to ascertain the optimum preparation technique for transmission and scanning electron microscopy for ultrastructural studies of platelets and fibrin networks. K/s) allowing the water in a biological specimen to reach a super-cooled stabilized state (vitrification). The general consensus in the scientific community is that ultrastructural preservation by high pressure freeze fixation is superior to that of chemical fixation, although the facts are that different fixation methodologies have dissimilar chemical and physical interactions with different specimens and as a result different artefact introductions. Therefore the best possible specimen preparation method to ensure an accurate likeness of the fixated specimen to its in vivo condition needs to be ascertained and used. Ultimately it was found that high pressure freezing coupled with freeze substitution is a superior method for fine structure preservation of fibrin fiber networks and platelets when utilizing transmission electron microscopy. Contrastingly for scanning electron microscopy ultrastructural studies it was found that chemical fixation is the more optimal method for the preparation of fibrin networks and platelets. © University of Pretoria
Cuán grande es un incendio en las sabanas del norte de Suramérica

Knowing the extent of burned areas in the tropics is vital due to their environmental impacts. The Colombian Orinoquía region is affected by a burning season every year and presents natural conditions for the development of considerable size fires. The goal of this study was to determine what size a fire needs to be in order to be considered large, as well as the characteristics of these fires in the study area. For such purpose, a methodology was developed and applied based on MODIS satellite images, which were used to analyze and identify burned footprints using available historical data. The threshold used to consider a burned footprint as a “large fire” (≥214 ha) was determined by adapting Pareto’s 80-20 principle applied to the time series available and the particular conditions of the study region. Further analysis was conducted to establish temporality of burned areas by identifying the large burned areas between 2000 and 2014. Results show that large fires last approximately three days and cover an average of approximately 625 hectares. The largest fires occurred in regions with the highest occurrence of fires over the years, specifically, in areas with flat topography and vegetation cover prone to burning.
Food and Consumer Economics

Agricultural economists first carried out demand studies in order to understand determinants of farm prices and incomes. The shift to a focus on consumer welfare began with studies of the role of food and food assistance in standards of living. Now the profession is more concerned with how information and quality attributes influence consumer behavior. Agricultural economists’ empirical work in this field has informed the development of household production theory, hedonic price theory, definitions of poverty thresholds, complete demand systems, and survey and experimental techniques to elicit preferences.