Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristic of ascorbic acid in crosslinked chitosan edible film as drug delivery system membrane

Chitosan is a polysaccharide compound in the form of a linear polysaccharide consisting of N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc) and D-glucosamine (GlcN) monomer, which is a derivative of deacetylization of chitin polymer. Chitin is one of common type of polysaccharide on earth after the excess cellulose from inveterbrata skeletons. Chitosan has anti-microbial properties. Based on this properties, chitosan is potentially used to be an edible film as drug delivery system membrane. Edible film was made by dissolving chitosan in 100 mL acetic acid 1%, then the plasticizer and crosslinker was added while heated at 60° C. It was molded and dried in oven at 50°C for 48 hours. Drug loading in the edible film could be controlled by remodeling membrane characteristics in the presence of crosslinker additions. The purpose of this study was to estimate the mass transfer coefficient (kCa) of drug loading in various concentrations of ascorbic acid in the edible film. The characteristics of ascorbic acid in chitosan edible film could be seen from the number of drugs that could be loaded through the uv-vis spectrophotometric analysis. The higher concentration of ascorbic acid was added, the drug would be loaded more into edible film.
From First Grade Forward: Early Foundations of High School Dropout.

In tracking the educational progress of a sample of Baltimore school-children from entrance into first grade in fall 1982 through early spring 1996, the authors examined the children's personal qualities, first-grade experiences and family circumstances as precursors to high school dropout. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of dropout involving family context measures (stressful family changes, parents' attitudes and parents' socialization practices), children's personal resources (attitudes and behaviors) and school experiences (test scores, marks and track placements). These various measures were found to influence dropout independently of sociodemographic factors and account for much of the difference in the odds of dropout associated with family socioeconomic status, gender, family type and other risk factors. The authors take a life-course perspective on dropout, viewing it as the culmination of a long-term process of academic disengagement
Pattern of antibiotic prescription and physicians' opinion on the resistance of antibiotics used in enteric fever in Bangladesh: a cross sectional survey

Enteric fever remains to be a major health problem in Bangladesh. Emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella typhi has further complicated therapy by limiting treatment options and thus has created a major clinical problem worldwide. The study was aimed to determine- i) the trend of antibiotic use and causes of antimicrobial resistance in enteric fever through physicians' opinion and ii) the scenario of antibiotic use in different areas in Bangladesh by prescription survey. This cross sectional survey was conducted by a self- designed standard questionnaire and data were collected manually from November 15, 2013 to January 18, 2014 from three district cities of Bangladesh: Dhaka, Rajshahi and Khulna. Data were collected by directly interviewing the physicians who were treating at least one patient with enteric fever during the study period and from the patient's prescriptions. A total of 200 physicians were interviewed and a total number of 276 prescriptions were analyzed. The highest prescribed antibiotic for typhoid fever was cefixime (32.61%) followed by ceftriaxone (24.28%) and azithromycin (14.13%). Ciprofloxacin was found to be the most resistant antibiotic in typhoid fever according to doctors' opinion. Two or more antibiotics were found to be prescribed in 63.27% of prescriptions. A complete direction for antibiotics use was given in 54.08% of prescriptions and 64.29% patients completed full course of antibiotics. Although 84.69% prescriptions had no clinical test for using antibiotics, the percentages of patients' disease recovery were 65.31%. Most of the physicians believed that irrational use results in bacterial resistance to antibiotics in enteric fever. Our findings are important for developing public awareness and education in antibiotic use.
Body composition in mature Parda de Montaña and Pirenaica suckler cows

Two experiments were conducted to study the body composition of mature females from two breeds of suckler cattle (Parda de Montana and Pirenaica) with different origin and purpose. In Exp. 1, body condition score (BCS) and subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) were measured in 64 cows in a 2x2 factorial arrangement (Parda de Montana vs. Pirenaica breed and dry vs. lactating cows). SFT was similar across genotypes (P>0.05) but physiological stage affected this trait (P 0.05). Carcass weights (hot and cold) and dressing percentages (slaughter and commercial) as well as the weight of some metabolically active organs (liver, spleen and kidney) and hide were similar across breeds (P>0.05). The previous traits revealed no differences in the body composition of Parda de Montana and Pirenaica cattle breeds, highlighting the parallel trajectory of selection for meat production in both genotypes over the last years.
Community of Inquiry in e-Learning: A Critical Analysis of the Garrison and Anderson Model.

This article is based on a constructively critical analysis of the model of community of inquiry developed by Garrison and Anderson (2003) as part of a research conducted in the area of e-learning. The authors claim that certain collaborative interactions create "distant presence" fostering the emergence of a community of inquiry which has a positive influence on individual and collective learning. More specifically, the article points out that until now, the model's theoretical foundations had not been made explicit and provides important insights concerning these epistemological considerations. It also suggests a number of theoretical perspectives which strengthen the authors' presentation of the conceptual anchorings of the model. Thus the major contribution of this article is to show the potential of Garrison and Anderson's model for the research in the field of e-learning.
The Bamendjin Dam and Its Implications in the Upper Noun Valley, Northwest Cameroon

Understanding the environmental consequences and socio-economic importance of dams is vital in assessing the effects of the Bamendjin dam in the development of agrarian communities in the Upper Noun Valley (UNV) in Northwest Cameroon. The Bamendjin dam drainage basin and its floodplain are endowed with abundant water resources and rich biodiversity, however, poverty is still a dominant factor that accounts for unsustainable management of natural resources by the majority of rural inhabitants in the area. The dam was created in 1975 and has since then exacerbated the environmental conditions and human problems of the region due to lack of flood control during rainy seasons, lost hope of improved navigation system, unclean drinking water sources, population growth, rising unemployment, deteriorating environmental health issues, resettlement problems and land use conflicts, especially farmer-herder conflicts. Despite hopes created by increased production of irrigated swamp rice, introduced to be a major cash crop, socio-economic and ecological problems have significantly reduced its chances of sustainable livelihood and poverty alleviation. Our study addresses the socio-economic implications of the Bamendjin dam as a rural development project to support rice production and other agro-pastoral activities and also examines related rural livelihood problems such as displacement of local communities and transformation of the landscape ecology. Stakeholders need to put in place an institutional framework for decision-making and policy implementation in order to realize the desired benefits of the dam and reverse its adverse effects on the UNV and its environs.
Fostering Innovative Entrepreneurship Education in Vocational Colleges by Counselors from qInternet +q Perspective

The entrepreneurship education implementation program in vocational colleges should create a cultural atmosphere conducive to innovation and personnel training based on campus culture, to establish an open course system of entrepreneurship education, to enrich the practice of entrepreneurship education system taking school-enterprise cooperation as a platform, and to build an entrepreneurship education counselor team with double quality relying on training. They plan instruction, select materials, and most powerfully affects what students learn. The paper presents the results of a quantitative survey aimed at identifying the attitudes of educators to innovations. The results suggest enhancing the teacher’s core competence structure in the mode of teaching. The cross-over of Internet and other industries will be of enormous value to the development of innovative entrepreneurship education.
3D Point Cloud Registration Based on Refined ICP Algorithm

Three-dimension (3D) digitization of human face is of great value for medical plastic surgery, video making, virtual reality, and so on. Subject to the restriction of 3D scanning equipment, a single angle of scanning measurement only obtains partial information of a face. In this paper, a multi-Kinect measurement system was proposed for the scanning of human face from multiple angles simultaneously. Firstly, different sides of human face point clouds scanned by three Kinect sensors were registered by an ICP algorithm to form a full human face point cloud. Then, a bilateral filtering algorithm was refined to remove noise in the point cloud. Finally, a point feature histogram and a refined shared nearest neighbor cluster algorithm were applied to improve the iterative speed and efficiency of the ICP algorithm. Experiment shows that the refined point cloud registration algorithm is efficient for 3D digitization of full human face.
The Value Relevance of Goodwill Impairment and the Impact of Financial Leverage: Evidence from Sweden

The aim of this study is first to examine the value relevance of goodwill impairment losses, and second, to examine the impact of financial leverage on value relevance. Value relevance is defined as the statistical association between the market reaction of earnings announcement and the reported goodwill impairment loss. Goodwill impairment losses are considered value relevant if the association between the market reaction and the reported goodwill impairment loss is statistically significant and non-zero. The sample consists of firms listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm with recognized goodwill impairment losses between 2005 and 2013. The value relevance analysis is carried out with two separate multivariate OLS regressions. The results suggest, in contrast to most prior value relevance studies, that goodwill impairment losses on average are non-value relevant for investors on the Swedish equity market. Similarly, goodwill impairment losses are non-value relevant for investors of firms with low financial leverage. However, for firms with high financial leverage, goodwill impairment losses cause a negative market reaction and are considered value relevant by the investors. The value relevance of goodwill impairment is therefore determined by financial leverage. This study therefore supports prior research stating that the market reaction to goodwill impairment becomes more negative with financial leverage. A robustness test is also carried out, suggesting that debt covenants play a crucial part in explaining why value relevance is determined by financial leverage.
Relationships Among Orthographic Measures and Reading Achievement

As participants in an after school tutoring program, 29 second through fifth graders were administered subtests designed to measure visual processing and memory skills: Orthography, Visual Discrimination, Sound Symbol Leaming, Letter Memory: Visual, and Rapid Symbol Naming from the Test of Dyslexia (McCallum & Bell, 2001); and Picture Recognition and Visual-Auditory Leaming from the Woodcock-Johnson II/­ Cognitive Battery (WJIII; Woodcock, McGrew & Mather, 2001). Subtest scores were obtained from administration of achievement measures: Letter-Word Calling, Fluency, Passage Comprehension, and Spelling (Test of Dyslexia); Letter-Word Identification, Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and Spelling (WJIII-Achievement Battery); and the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (Mather, Hamill, Allen, & Roberts, 2004). Zero­ order correlational analyses were employed to demonstrate the relationships among the orthographic and achievement variables. Orthography, Letter Memory: Visual, and Rapid Symbol Naming from the Test of Dyslexia had mildly positive correlational relationships with achievement measures. In addition, stepwise multiple regressions were conducted to measure the extent to which the orthographic variables predict criterion achievement variables. TOD Rapid Symbol Naming was found to have predictive capabilities to all four achievement constructs: Sight word identification, fluency, comprehension, and spelling. WJIII Reading Fluency had three predictors: Orthography, Letter Memory: Visual, and Rapid Symbol Naming from the Test of Dyslexia.
Overview: Getting a More Balanced View of What is Working in Agriculture to Reduce Hunger

This article suggests that to understand better what is working in agriculture in order to reduce hunger, a strengthening and transformation of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in agricultural research and development is needed. It presents the Agricultural Learning and Impacts Network (ALINe) as the initiative that has commissioned this IDS Bulletin, reflecting aspects of the current status and role of M&E, how it can be strengthened and ultimately transformed, and some of the reasons for why such change is possible. ALINe argues that asking farmers about their priorities, and what is and is not working and embedding this data into performance management systems is vital for improving accountability, value for money and the impact of agricultural development on people's lives. The article also introduces the other articles in this collection and commentaries on them by Southern practitioners and specialists.
Perceptions of the UK's Research Excellence Framework 2014 A small survey of academics

Earlier work inspired by a body of literature raised important questions about the workings of the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its predecessor the Research Assessment Framework (RAE), and noted the possible adverse outcomes of such processes. This paper builds on this by examining the findings of a small survey of social science academics. The survey identified concerns about the validity of the REF as a proxy for quality, and the role it has had in shaping patterns of research behaviour. There were also frequent concerns related to morale. Yet although responses tended to be negative, there was also a significant voice signalling the importance the REF plays in ensuring accountability and transparency in research, as well as a sense that the pressures that come with such processes are simply ‘part and parcel’ of academic life. The role of wider time-management factors, related to heavy teaching and administration burdens, was also signalled, and cited by some as overshadowing the pressures of REF.
Fabrication and Characterization of ZnO Thin Film Based p-n Junction

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films have drawn considerable interest due to its excellent material properties such as wide and direct band gap, high electron mobility and large exciton binding energy. In order to realise the applications of these devices, fabrication of high quality p-type ZnO thin films are very essential. In this work p-ZnO/n-ZnO and p-ZnO/n-Si type of junctions were realised by depositing the (Al, N) doped p-ZnO films on glass and silicon substrate using low cost sol gel as well as dip coating techniques. The characterization of deposited thin films was carried out by XRD, UV visible spectroscopy, and I-V measurements. For qualitative confirmation for p-type conduction of deposited ZnO thin film hot probe method is utilised. A comparative study of the different p-n junctions was done, where homo-junction between p-ZnO (dip coated) and n-ZnO(sputtered) shows a better diode characterises.
Radiations and key innovations in an early branching angiosperm lineage (Annonaceae; Magnoliales)

Biologists are fascinated by species-rich groups and have attempted to discover the causes for their abundant diversification. Comprehension of the causes and mechanisms underpinning radiations and detection of their frequency will contribute greatly to the understanding of the evolutionary origin of biodiversity and its ecological structure. A dated and well-resolved phylogenetic tree of Annonaceae was used to study diversification patterns in the family in order to identify factors that drive speciation and the evolution of morphological (key) characters. It was found that, except for Goniothalamus, the largest genera in the family are not the result of radiations. Furthermore, the difference in species numbers between subfamilies Annonoideae (former long branch clade) and Malmeoideae (former short branch clade) cannot be attributed to significant differences in the diversification rate. Most of the speciation in Annonaceae is not distinguishable from a random branching process (i.e. chance), and no special explanations are therefore necessary for the distribution of species richness across the major part of the phylogenetic tree for Annonaceae. Only for a small number of clades can key innovations be invoked to explain the elevated rate of diversification. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 169, 117–134.
Nonequilibrium optical conductivity in materials with localized electronic states

A wide range of disordered materials contain electronic states that are spatially well localized. In this work, we investigated the electrical response of such systems in non-equilibrium conditions to external electromagnetic field. We obtained the expression for optical conductivity valid for any non-equilibrium state of electronic subsystem. In the case of incoherent non-equilibrium state, this expression contains only the positions of localized electronic states, Fermi's golden rule transition probabilities between the states and the populations of electronic states. The same form of expression is valid both in the case of weak electron-phonon interaction and weak electron-impurity interaction that act as perturbations of electronic Hamiltonian. The derivation was performed by expanding the general expression for AC conductivity in powers of small electron-phonon interaction or electron-impurity interaction parameter. Applications of the expression to two model systems, a simple one- dimensional Gaussian disorder model and the model of a realistic three-dimensional organic polymer material, were presented, as well.
Transient States of Matter during Short Pulse Laser Ablation

Short pulse laser ablation of semiconductors and metals is studied by means of ultrafast timeresolved microscopy. The characteristic stages of the conversion of solid material into hot fluid matter undergoing ablation are identified. Initially metallic material transforms during the expansion into a transparent state with a high index of refraction. [S0031-9007(98)06502-8]
İnme öyküsü olan hastalarda metilentetrahidrofolat redüktaz C677T gen polimorfizminin ve mutasyonların sıklığı

The frequency of metilentetrahidrofolat reductase C6777T gene polymorphysm and mutations in patients with a history of stroke Objective: Stroke, following heart disease and cancer, is the third most common cause of mortality and is the most common cause of morbidity in the world. The enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) plays a critical role in modulating the levels of plasma homocysteine. Hyperhomocysteinemia is a risk factor for stroke. The polymorphysm in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene C677T results in reduced enzyme activity. This study was performed to observe the rate of MTHFR C677T genetic polymorphysm and its effect to hyperhomocysteinemia as a risk factor. Material and Methods: In this study, 40 stroke patients and 38 control subjects without any history of stroke were assessed. DNA was extracted from preripheral blood samples of the patients and controls. C677T genotype and allels in the MTHFR gene were identified in Light Cycle (LC) device by Real Time (RT) Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methods. Results: In control and study groups MTHFR C677T (63.15% CC, 34.21% CT, 2.63% TT) (35% CC, 52.5% CT, 12.5% TT) genotypes were analyzed respectively and statistically significant difference was observed. Conclusion: MTHFR C677T polymorphism was a risk factor for in stroke patients. We thought to extend our study by increasing the size and adding the homocysteine measurements for better results.
Knowledge, Access and Use of Internet-Based Health Information for Personal Healthcare among Employees of the Foremost Nigerian University

Background: Accessibility and use of the internet-based health information are vital concepts in healthcare delivery. The Internet is changing not only the way patients get health information, but the way they interact with their healthcare providers and others alike. Several studies have explored the use of the Internet by the healthcare providers. However little is known about the extent to which individual patients use the Internet for their own personal healthcare information needs. Objective: This present study determined basic IT knowledge, skills and access to internet-based health information to address personal healthcare needs of the University of Ibadan employees. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that deployed multi-stage sampling techniques. Result: Four hundred and two (82.0%) of the 488 questionnaires distributed were analyzed. There were more (292, 72.6%) non-teaching participants in the study. All (402, 100%) participants were conversant with internet-based health information which was reported to have met their basic health needs. They all (402, 100%) admitted that internet-based health information could be easily understood, and they mostly sought for it to equip themselves with prior knowledge on their ailments. However, the majority (398, 97.0%) searched for internet-based health information because they reported to have lost confidence in their healthcare providers. Conclusion: It is obvious from this study that most employees of University of Ibadan appreciated the importance of internet-based health information for personal healthcare and seek it for diverse personal reasons. The outcome of this study has the potentials to prepare healthcare professionals for dealing appropriately with internet-informed patients and restore their confidence. The Nigerian healthcare systems need to formulate policies on access and use of internet-based health information by their patients.
Incorporation of physical optics effects and computation of the Legendre expansion for ray‐tracing phase functions involving δ‐function transmission

The standard geometric optics (GO) technique predicts that the phase function for large nonspherical particles with parallel plane facets (e.g., hexagonal ice crystals) should have an infinitesimally narrow δ-function transmission peak caused by rays twice transmitted (refracted) in exactly the forward scattering direction. However, exact T-matrix computations and physical considerations based on the Kirchhoff approximation suggest that this peak is an artifact of GO completely ignoring physical optics effects and must be convolved with the Fraunhofer pattern, thereby producing a phase function component with an angular profile similar to the standard diffraction component. This convolution can be performed with a simple procedure which supplements the standard ray-tracing code and makes the computation of the phase function and its Legendre expansion both more physically realistic and more accurate.