Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Onwu and Mosimege on"Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Science and Technology Education: A Dialogue" Some Remaining Issues

This paper presents an analysis of an article written by Onwu and Mosimege (2004) “Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Science and Technology Education: A Dialogue”. The analysis was undertaken against a backdrop of ongoing discussion and debate on how to integrate IK into school science curriculum in a valid and legitimate way. In their article, Onwu and Mosimege raise epistemological, metaphysical and axiological questions regarding Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and Western science, particularly from a pedagogical point of view. The first part of this paper considers the epistemological questions that dominate the article. Epistemologically, the article seeks a definition of IKS, its nature and relationship to other bodies of knowledge and the ways in which it is acquired and accepted. For Onwu and Mosimege (2004), IKS can be a rival or complement to Western science. Therefore, an underlying concern that this paper intends to study is given the epistemological differences and commonalities between indigenous knowledge (IK) and school science, what are the remaining issues? In the second part of this paper a critical assessment of the metaphysical issues raised by Onwu and Mosimege, namely, the existence of IKS and the existence of spiritual entities postulated by IKS will be done. The key metaphysical concerns are the existence of IKS and the existence of spiritual entities that IKS assumes. Finally, an examination of the arguments Onwu and Mosimege give for the value of IKS will be done. From the axiological point of view, the writers are unequivocally appreciative of the value of IKS for learners not only in particular socio-cultural contexts, but also in developing synergies with other systems of knowledge. In this article, the intention is to engage with the arguments made by Onwu and Mosimege. The methodology that was adopted in this paper is philosophical arm-chair analysis. This was undertaken specifically to check on the validity and soundness of arguments presented in the article by Onwu and Mosimege in relation to other scholars’ views.
The species-specific monitoring protocols for plant species of Community interest in Italy

The results of a project for the identification of species-specific monitoring protocols for the Italian plant species protected under the Habitats Directive (Annexes II/IV/V) are presented. The project led to the development of 118 monitoring factsheets, providing an operational guidance for 107 vascular taxa, 10 bryophytes and 1 lichen taxon. Each factsheet includes information on the species (distribution, biology, ecology, conservation status, threats, etc.) and the description of field methodologies for the detection of the two main reporting parameters, i.e. population size and habitat quality. Practical information to plan field activities are also given. Protocols were designed to address the requirements of the European reporting system with the aim to standardize future monitoring activities, optimize efforts at national scale and overcome some current problems related to data heterogeneity and discrepancies from the EC standards. More than 60 botanists collaborated to identify the best practices and to design an operational field survey format through several stages of discussion and sharing. The protocols, developed by ISPRA and Scientific Societies and shared with the Italian institutions responsible for the Directive application, were published in a dedicated National handbook. The work provides a first uniform technical basis for future national monitoring plans.
Juvenile and adult scale worms Branchipolynoe seepensis in Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent mussels are genetically unrelated

The deep-sea Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vent mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus harbors the polynoid polychaete Branchipolynoe seepensis in its palleal cavity. The latter species possesses large, yolky oocytes (~400 µm) and has been hypothesized to brood its developing embryos. The present study used 6 microsatellite markers to assess kinship among adult and juvenile worms from the same host, among worms from mussels collected within a 1 m 2 quadrat, and among samples taken on 2 dates (July 1998 and July 2001) at 2 sites (Tour Eiffel, TE, and Bairro Alto, BA) separated by 900 m at Lucky Strike hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (37° 16' to 19' N, 32° 15' to 18' W). The hypothesis of genetic relatedness between females and juveniles within a sin- gle mussel, or among worms from the same quadrat was rejected. Conversely, great heterozygote deficiencies have been detected at nearly all loci, suggesting possible local inbreeding. There was no apparent genetic differentiation among worms from the 2 spatially separated quadrats collected at the TE and BA sites in 2001. These results suggest that embryonic or juvenile B. seepensis are released from their host mussel at a relatively early stage of development. They may settle close to the point of release or be dispersed to nearby sites or beyond.
Pembrolizumab Associated Hypothyroidism: Case Report and Review of Literature

Context: Pembrolizumab is a Programmed Death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor used to treat advanced malignant melanoma and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. It causes various endocrinological side effects including immune mediated thyroiditis. Thyroiditis caused by Pembrolizumab can mimic other immune mediated thyroiditis like Hashimoto thyroiditis and Grave’s disease. Case Report: A 61 year old male who was receiving treatment with pembrolizumab for malignant melanoma was evaluated for abnormal Thyroid Function Tests (TFTs). His TFTs were normal before chemotherapy, however, TFTs done one month after fourth cycle of chemotherapy revealed suppressed TSH. Follow up of TFTs two months after fourth cycle of chemotherapy and there after revealed persistent elevated TSH concerning for hypothyroidism. Other potential causes of abnormal thyroid function were ruled out by history and negative antibody tests. He was started on levothyroxine for hypothyroidism. Conclusion: Pembrolizumab, similar to other PD-1 inhibitors causes various endocrinological side effects via immune mediated mechanism. Thyroiditis is more common with pembrolizumab than ipulimumab. Diagnosis requires high index of suspicious and frequent monitoring of TFT while on treatment is based on symptoms and thyroid function tests. Hospitalization and treatment with steroids is indicated in severe cases.
Application of INSAR interferometry and geodetic surveys for monitoring Andean volcanic activity : First results from ASAR-ENVISAT data

(1) IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement) bonvalot@ird.fr, jeanluc@cec.uchile. cl, remy@dgf.uchile. cl ; (2) UMR5563 Toulouse, France ; (3) UMR6524 Clermont-Ferrand, France ; (4) Deptos de Geofisica / Geologia, Facultad de Ciensas y Matematicas, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2002, Santiago, Chile ; (5) Universidad de Concepcion, Chile ; (6) SERNAGEOMIN, Santiago, Chile ; (7) CONIDA, Lima, Peru, (8) Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Arequipa, Peru ; (9) Instituto Geofisico, Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador ; (10) Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Lab. de Gravimetrie et Geodynamique
JOB SATISFACTION AND WORK ETHICS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN A SOUTH AFRICAN AND A ZIMBABWEAN GROUP

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and work ethics using participants from a South African and Zimbabwean University. 200 participants took part in the study. 60 academic and 40 non-academic members of staff were randomly drawn from each of two universities, one form each country. Significant correlations were reported between overall satisfaction and having a lot of money and investing it, working like a slave at everything one does until satisfaction, hard and succeeding, life meaningfulness and leisure time, leisure time interesting than work, and learning better on the job by striking out boldly on their own than by following the advice of others. Overall, a comparison between the South African and Zimbabwean group showed that the two groups differ on 25 out of the 65 variables with the South African group exhibiting higher mean scores.
The Impact of Marketing Mix on Attracting Audiences to the Cinema

It is common knowledge that movie production and marketing feature, is a risky business. Extending our knowledge of factors affecting movie sales and attracting people to theaters can help reduce the risk of the film industry. In this paper, we tried to identify influential factors in attracting people to cinema from marketing mix (4P’s) point of view and prioritize their indices from the perspective of movie goers in Tehran. The population of this study consists of Movie goers in Tehran, Iran. In this study, 455 questionnaires were distributed in five cinema of Tehran. In order to analysis data, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Binomial or relative, t-student and Friedman tests has been used. The results revealed that all marketing mix variables except the “price” are influential in attracting audiences. Prioritizing these four variables shows that “place” has the highest priority. Also “film Genre” and “director” in product variable, “promotion” and “word of mouth” and “Movie review” in promotion variables, respectively were the most important indices. Key words: Motion picture industry; Cinema marketing; Marketing mix
A Two-Species Magneto-Optical Trap Using 39 K and 133 Cs RATKATA

There is great interest in the use of ultracold polar molecules confined in optical lattices for quantum simulation of complex many-body problems. The objective of our work is to realise a system of ultracold fermionic 40K133Cs molecules in a 1D optical lattice consisting of an array of 2D pancake traps. Such a system will enable a wide range of future investigations, including the study of novel regimes of interlayer superfluidity [1]. To create polar molecules we will employ magnetoassociation on an interspecies Feshbach resonance followed by transfer to the rovibrational ground state using STImulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP). This thesis reports the progress towards this ambitious goal focusing on the initial laser cooling stage. We present a simple single cell vacuum system that can be used to locate the interspecies Feshbach resonances essential for magnetoassociation. We give a description of the laser setups for both species, including details of the laser spectroscopy used for frequency stabilisation. We then present results on the optimisation of the magneto optical trap (MOT) for each species (focusing on the most abundant 39K isotope). The effects of the intensities and detunings of both the cooling and repump light and the magnetic field gradient are investigated in order to maximise the number of trapped atoms. Finally, we present preliminary observations of simultaneously loading overlapped MOTs for both species.
A discrepancy principle for Poisson data:uniqueness of the solution for 2D and 3D data

This paper is concerned with the uniqueness of the solution of a nonlinear equation, named discrepancy equation. For the restoration problem of data corrupted by Poisson noise, we have to minimize an objective function that combines a data-fidelity function, given by the generalized Kullback–Leibler divergence, and a regularization penalty function. Bertero et al. recently proposed to use the solution of the discrepancy equation as a convenient value for the regularization parameter. Furthermore they devised suitable conditions to assure the uniqueness of this solution for several regularization functions in 1D denoising and deblurring problems. The aim of this paper is to generalize this uniqueness result to 2D and 3D problems for several penalty functions, such as an edge preserving functional, a simple case of the class of Markov Random Field (MRF) regularization functionals and the classical Tikhonov regularization.
Economic Production of Tannase by Aspergillus niger van Tiegh Adopting Different Fermentation Protocols and Possible Applications

Here, we demonstrated the ability of Aspergillus niger to utilize Ficus nitida' leaves and crude tannic acid extract to produce tannase. The kinetics of tannase synthesis using free and immobilised cells of A. niger were studied by adopting submerged (LSF), solid-state (SSF) and slurry-state (SlSF) cultures. The optimum parameters for maximum production were recorded at 30°C, initial pH of 5 after 120 hours of shaking incubation at 175 rpm for SSF and SlSF and 200 for LSF. The maximum yield of tannase was produced in the following descending order: SSF (457.2 U 50ml -1 ) > LSF (451 U 50ml -1 ) > SlSF (324.3 U 50ml -1 ). The concentration and balance of trace elements had a critical role on tannase synthesis where a dramatic beneficial effect was observed when a mixture of Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ and Zn 2+ was added to the fermentation media. Applicability of the research findings was illustrated through suggesting the possibility of using the fermentation residue of F. nitida obtained from SSF in animal feed. Moreover, the ability of the produced tannase to remove up to 55% and 45% of tannin after 120 minute from tea extract and pomegranate juice respectively was confirmed.
Fostering entrepreneurship in developing nations: Tapping into the “hidden potential” of the Namibian Rural Youth

Fostering a culture of Entrepreneurship in Namibia should be considered in the context of a historical framework. Namibia became an independent state only in 1990, after a long period of colonial oppression under the German colonial rule and then South Africa. Independence enabled the nation to create its own political and economic policies which potentially will help the nation to prosper in the near future. These policies are in alignment with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which addresses the growing concern of the role that youth could play in the development of nations (World Bank Report, 2007). Furthermore there is also a growing awareness amongst donor agencies and civil society organisations, which address the potential that youth entrepreneurship, can bring to developing nations. However, opportunities for formal education and training are scarce, and this impedes young entrepreneurs in acquiring the skills and confidence they need. This paper will investigate the literature as it pertains to the role of Entrepreneurship in the development process and the benefits that Namibia as a country could derive by fostering a culture of entrepreneurship amongst its rural youth. In particular, this paper intends to review and analyse the Namibian cultures and the contribution that culture could make to sustained entrepreneurial motivation. I argue that having a diverse culture could be a distinctive advantage for young people in Namibia as it makes room for creativity and innovation, which are one of the key
Geography limits island small-scale fishery production

Interacting social and ecological processes shape productivity and sustainability of island small-scale fisheries (SSF). Understanding limits to productivity through historical catches help frame future expectations and management strategies, but SSF are dispersed and unaccounted, so long-term standardized data are largely absent for such analyses. We analysed 40 years of trade statistics of a SSF product that enter international markets (sea cucumber) from 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT) against response variables to test predictors of fishery production: (i) scale, (ii) productivity and (iii) socio-economics. Combined production in PICT peaked over 20 years ago, driven by exploitation trends in Melanesia that accounted for 90% of all production since 1971. The size of island fisheries (as measured by total exports), and the duration and magnitude of fishery booms were most influenced by ungovernable environmental variables, in particular land area. The large and high islands of Melanesia sustained larger booms over longer periods than atoll nations. We hypothesize that land area is a proxy for land-based nutrient availability and habitat diversity, and therefore the productivity of the shallow water areas where SSF are operating. PICT need to tailor management based on the intrinsic productivity of shallow inshore habitats: harvests from atoll nations will need to be smaller per unit area than at the high islands. Particularly countries with low productivity fisheries must consider the crucial economic “safety nets” that export SSF make up for dispersed island populations and incorporate them into broader development and island resilience strategies.
Culture Sensitivity Pattern of Infectious Meningitis in Pediatric Population at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Objective: This study aims to determine the culture sensitivity pattern and clinical features of patients suffering from infectious meningitis presenting at Nishtar medical university hospital Multan, Pakistan. Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study Place and duration of study: Pediatric department, Nishtar Hospital Multan the duration of the study was January 01, 2017 to December 31, 2017. Method All the children of age 1 month to 12 years with suspected meningitis were included in our study. The patients who were critically ill or immune compromised were not included in the study. All these cases were evaluated by detailed history, thorough physical examination and the necessary investigations. All the demographic data and other variables related to clinico-epidemiological features were measured and recorded using a specifically designed Proforma. The data were analyzed by using computer program SPSS 21 version. Result Of the 178 patients included in the final analysis, 113 (63.6%) were females and 65 (36.4%) males. The age ranged from 1 month to 12 years with a median of 31 months (6.00 - 72.50). Seventy-five percent of them were below 5 years. On the basis of investigations, bacterial meningitis was diagnosed in 91, viral meningitis in 27, tuberculous meningitis in 21 and cryptococcal meningitis in 15 patients. The most common clinical presentations of meningitis were fever, vomiting, headache, irritability, neck stiffness and altered level of consciousness. While the photophobia and fits were less common. The GCS score was more than 13 in 33 patients (18.8%) and 8-13 in 93 patients (52%). Whereas, less than eight GCS score was observed in 52 children (29.2%). Most of the complications were observed in the initial 48 hours of admission. The commonly observed complications were an altered level of sensorium, seizure, and shock. The minimum length of hospitalization was three days and the maximum was 36 days with median (IQR) of 12 days (4-15). The mortality was observed in 29 patients (16.2%) of Pediatric Department. Conclusion Infectious meningitis is a common disease of Pakistani pediatric population. The female children of rural areas, having age less than 5 years are more prone to suffer from this disease. For effective management of infectious meningitis, the antimicrobial sensitivity data should be continuously monitored. Keywords: Meningitis, children, culture sensitivity patterns, clinical features
Multivariate Classification Methods for Spectroscopic Data with Multiple Class Structure

The classification of microorganisms is an important task in many fields such as food production, medicine, biotechnology. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy can provide comprehensive biochemical information about microorganisms via spectra. To extract the information, an appropriate chemometrics technique is needed to treat the data and get reliable classification results. From the very beginning it was known that utilizing hierarchical structure of the data is an advantage but might be a tedious and time consuming procedure. In this study we evaluate the best way for setting up a classifications scheme to identify microorganisms by FTIR spectroscopy. In this context our task was to classify ten different genera of food spoilage yeasts, which were cultivated in five different media and subsequently analyzed by (FTIR) spectroscopy. The methods, which were used in this study, are: principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA), Fisher liner discriminant analysis (FLDA), PLSDA and FLDA combined with HCA, PLSDA and FLDA combined with a one-versus-all (OVA) approach, PLSDA and FLDA combined with a one-versus-one (OVO) approach, and random forest (RF). The last method showed the best performance among the all methods we used. A validation success rate (SR) achieved by RF is equal to 97.5% for one of the media. The other successful methods are PLSDA combined with HCA and PLSDA applied directly to ten groups with SRs equal to 96.3% and 94.4%, respectively. Our results suggest that RF can be used for rapid identification of microorganisms even without utilizing a hierarchical structure in the data and can perform very accurately. Moreover, when using information from other blocks of data representing different cultivation media, the performance of RF was improved.
Lithium abundances for early F stars: new observational constraints for the Li dilution

Aims. To investigate any correlation between Li abundances and rotational velocities among F–G evolved stars, we study a large sample of early F stars from the Bright Star Catalogue (BSC), most of them classified in the literature as giant stars. Methods. Physical parameters and Li abundances are estimated for each star, often for the first time, by comparing observed and synthetic spectra. We analyse the position of the stars in the H–R Diagram based on Hipparcos data using stellar evolutionary tracks and we discuss their Li abundances and projected rotational velocities. Results. Observed stars are mostly on the turnoff, with masses between 1.5 and $2.0~M_{\odot}$. The stars with measured A (Li) abundance show high Li content, most of them with abundance near the cosmic value. The A (Li) versus $V\sin i$ diagram shows the same trend as reported in previous studies: fast rotators ($V\sin i\gse 30$ km s -1 ) are also stars with high Li content, whereas slow rotators present a wide range of values of A (Li), ranging from no detected Li to the cosmic value.
Exploring functional definitions of mycorrhizas: Are mycorrhizas always mutualisms?

Mycorrhizas are considered to be classic mutualisms. Here, we define mutualism as a reciprocal increase in fitness of the symbionts, and we review the evidence for mycorrhizal mutualism at the community, whole-plant, and cellular scales. It is difficult to use results of most mycorrhizal studies because (i) fungal contribution to nutrient up- take is not accurately estimated, (ii) increased growth is not necessarily correlated with increased plant fecundity or survival, especially in communities, and (iii) benefits that occur only at certain times of year, or under specific extreme conditions, may not be detected. To produce the nonmycorrhizal controls required to study mutualism in the field, soil microflora and fauna must be severely perturbed; therefore, it is virtually impossible to evaluate effects of mycorrhizas on plant fitness under realistic conditions. Using the evidence available, we conclude that mycorrhizas can occupy vari- ous positions along the continuum from parasitism to mutualism, depending on the specific plant and fungal genotypes and their abiotic and biotic environments. Although we discuss the possibility of defining mycorrhizas by some physio- logical characteristic, we conclude that mycorrhizas should be defined on a structural or developmental basis and that any requirement to demonstrate mutualism be eliminated.