bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
COVID 19 Conflicts and Emerging Leadership Characteristics: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Magambo Joshua Karani
Published: December 2021

COVID-19 has resulted to global changes that have continued to instigate conflict in the hotel industry. This single exploratory qualitative case study purpose was to examined COVID 19 conflicts and emerging leadership characteristics during COVID 19 period at the Safari Park Hotel and Casino in Kenya. The target population of 20 departmental managers and sections from where a sample of seven participants was purposively drawn. In-depth interviews were conducted with participants from all departments and the data analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that conflicts were evident at individual, departmental, organizational, and externally with stakeholders. Finding further indicated that COVID 19 conflicts revolved around loss of income, employee relations, customer complaints and constrained resources. It was also found that leadership characteristic such as authentic, collaboration, innovation, and perseverance are critical during conflict. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy is leadership development programs to incorporate conflict management, open and candid communication across the business, business leaders to balance between business needs and staff welfare as well as leaders to be provided with in service support that can complement their competencies in these critical leadership roles.
Students' Perceptions of The Application of Recitation Methods During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Authors: Fadli Muhammad , Mazrur Mazrur , Surawan Surawan
Published: December 2021

This study aims to find out 1) the perceptions of students of the PAI study program class of 2019 FTIK IAIN Palangka Raya on the application of the Recitation Method during the covid-19 pandemic, and 2) the impact of the application of the Recitation Method during the covid-19 pandemic on students of the 2019 FTIK PAI study program. IAIN Palangka Raya. The type of research used in this study is mixed methods research. The subjects are 161 students of the 2019 Islamic Islamic Education study program FTIK IAIN Palangka Raya and the PAI Homebase lecturer who teaches at the 2019 Islamic State Islamic Studies study program FTIK IAIN Palangka Raya as informants. Data collection techniques using questionnaires, interviews, and documentation, data validation techniques using source triangulation and tabulation percentages, and data analysis techniques using data reduction, presentation, and verification. The results of this study indicate that: 1) PAI students' perceptions of the class of 2019 on the application of the Recitation Method during the Covid-19 pandemic on the cognitive component were in the excellent category with a percentage of 67.1%, the perception of PAI students for the class of 2019 on the affective part was in the perfect type with a percentage 52.2%, the perception of PAI students for the class of 2019 on the conative element is in the ideal variety with a percentage of 69.6% with an average rate of the overall cognitive, affective, and conative components as much as 62.97%. So, it can be said that the perception of PAI students from the class of 2019 on the application of the Recitation Method during the Covid-19 pandemic was in the excellent category as a whole. This can be seen from the responses of students who accept the application of the Recitation Method positively despite various obstacles; PAI students of the 2019 batch still try to do their assignments seriously and as much as possible. 2) As for the impact of the implementation of the Recitation Method during the covid-19 pandemic on students PAI study program batch 2019 FTIK IAIN Palangka Raya consists of positive impacts, namely a) helping to understand the material, b) honing knowledge and skills, c) fostering positive habits, and the negative impact of applying the Recitation Method during the covid-19 pandemic on PAI study program students’ class of 2019 are a) interaction barriers and b) facility constraints.
Mosques and Literacy Reading of the Quran: Empowering Mosques as Educational Centers during Covid-19 Outbreak
Authors: Syalawaty Diyan , Aldi Ahmad , Tanti Tanti , Utami Wiji , Deliza Deliza
Published: December 2021

There are differences in the mosques performed before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, but these differences do not hinder the mosque's goals. This study aims to find out how the role of mosques in fostering reading the Qur'an during the Covid-19 pandemic and the inhibiting and supporting factors. Research on the involvement of mosques in the development of reading the Koran during the pandemic has been explored using a qualitative case study approach. The data collected was obtained using field research methods and literature studies. The findings in this study explain that the power of mosques as educational centers continues during the Covid-19 pandemic. The spirit of reading the Koran during the pandemic encountered several obstacles. This study provides distribution in theory and practice for Muslims during the Covid-19 pandemic for empowering mosques as an educational center.
Open access scientific journals: an analysis of the Directory of Open Access Journals
Authors:   Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Brazil, Mendes Suênia Oliveira , Rodrigues Rosângela Schwarz ,   Department of Information Science at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil
Published: December 2021

Introduction. The research aims to analyse the publishers, countries of publication, citation indexes, article processing charges, and their inter-relations, in the journals that make up the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), a global directory that offers scientific information in immediate and exclusive open access. Method. Bibliographic, quantitative, and inferential study of 9,005 journals in the DOAJ, focusing on publishers, countries of publication, article processing charges, and citation indexes. Analysis. Calculation of absolute and relative frequencies, measurement of central tendency, chi-squared test, and Mann-Whitney U test using the R statistical software (version 3.2.4) with a 95% confidence interval. Results. Brazil is the country with the largest number of titles (10.9%), followed by the United Kingdom, which has a greater number of titles with article processing charges fees averaging US$ 1,474 for those that are DOAJ No Seal and US$ 862 for those that are certified DOAJ Seal. Europe has the greatest number of open access titles (47.6%). The Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Elsevier, De Gruyter Open, BioMed Central, and Springer are the publishers with the greatest number of journals and a higher presence in citation indexes (Journal Citation Reports and SCImago Journal Rank). DOAJ Seal journals are correlated and more likely to have article processing charges fees. Conclusions. In the consolidation of open access journals, commercial publishers and countries with a tradition of scientific publishing continue to gather the majority of journals. Thus, the oligopoly of commercial scientific publishers is maintained.
Assessing the level of vulerability due to climate change in extremely poor coastal communes in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue provinces, Vietnam
Authors: NGUYEN Hoang Son , NGUYEN Trong Quan
Published: December 2021

Climate change has been severely affected the lives of people in coastal areas of Vietnam, particularly in the poor communes in the Central region, namely Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue. This report focuses on analyzing and assessing the vulnerability caused by climate change in the extremely poor communes in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue province, including five levels: Very low, low, medium, high, very high. Through the IPCC vulnerability assessment method, which includes three components: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, the results in the study area showed that the medium level accounted for 19.64%, the high level accounted for 30.48%, and the very high level made up 37.35% of the area.
A New Perspective of Paramodulation Complexity by Solving 100 Sliding Block Puzzles
Authors: Ando Ruo , Takefuji Yoshiyasu
Published: December 2021

This paper gives complete guidelines for authors submitting papers for the AIRCC Journals. A sliding puzzle is a combination puzzle where a player slides pieces along specific routes on a board to reach a certain end configuration. In this paper, we propose a novel measurement of the complexity of 100 sliding puzzles with paramodulation, which is an inference method of automated reasoning. It turned out that by counting the number of clauses yielded with paramodulation, we can evaluate the difficulty of each puzzle. In the experiment, we have generated 100 * 8 puzzles that passed the solvability checking by countering inversions. By doing this, we can distinguish the complexity of 8 puzzles with the number generated with paramodulation. For example, board [2,3,6,1,7,8,5,4, hole] is the easiest with score 3008 and board [6,5,8,7,4,3,2,1, hole] is the most difficult with score 48653.Besides, we have succeeded in obverse several layers of complexity (the number of clauses generated) in 100 puzzles. We can conclude that the proposed method can provide a new perspective of paramodulation complexity concerning sliding block puzzles.
Securing BGP by Handling Dynamic Network Behavior and Unbalanced Datasets
Authors: Verma Rahul Deo , Samaddar Shefalika Ghosh , Samaddar A. B.
Published: December 2021

The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) provides crucial routing information for the Internet infrastructure. A problem with abnormal routing behavior affects the stability and connectivity of the global Internet. The biggest hurdles in detecting BGP attacks are extremely unbalanced data set category distribution and the dynamic nature of the network. This unbalanced class distribution and dynamic nature of the network results in the classifier's inferior performance. In this paper we proposed an efficient approach to properly managing these problems, the proposed approach tackles the unbalanced classification of datasets by turning the problem of binary classification into a problem of multiclass classification. This is achieved by splitting the majority-class samples evenly into multiple segments using Affinity Propagation, where the number of segments is chosen so that the number of samples in any segment closely matches the minority-class samples. Such sections of the dataset together with the minor class are then viewed as different classes and used to train the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). The RIPE and BCNET datasets are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed technique. When no feature selection is used, the proposed technique improves the F1 score by 1.9% compared to state-of-the-art techniques. With the Fischer feature selection algorithm, the proposed algorithm achieved the highest F1 score of 76.3%, which was a 1.7% improvement over the compared ones. Additionally, the MIQ feature selection technique improves the accuracy by 3.5%. For the BCNET dataset, the proposed technique improves the F1 score by 1.8% for the Fisher feature selection technique. The experimental findings support the substantial improvement in performance from previous approaches by the new technique.
A Cooperative Localization Method based on V2I Communication and Distance Information in Vehicular Networks
Authors: Afifi Walaa , A. Hefny Hesham , R. Darwish Nagy
Published: December 2021

Relative positions are recent solutions to overcome the limited accuracy of GPS in urban environment. Vehicle positions obtained using V2I communication are more accurate because the known roadside unit (RSU) locations help predict errors in measurements over time. The accuracy of vehicle positions depends more on the number of RSUs; however, the high installation cost limits the use of this approach. It also depends on nonlinear localization nature. They were neglected in several research papers. In these studies, the accumulated errors increased with time due to the linearity localization problem. In the present study, a cooperative localization method based on V2I communication and distance information in vehicular networks is proposed for improving the estimates of vehicles’ initial positions. This method assumes that the virtual RSUs based on mobility measurements help reduce installation costs and facilitate in handling fault environments. The extended Kalman filter algorithm is a well-known estimator in nonlinear problem, but it requires well initial vehicle position vector and adaptive noise in measurements. Using the proposed method, vehicles’ initial positions can be estimated accurately. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method has superior accuracy than existing methods, giving a root mean square error of approximately 1 m. In addition, it is shown that virtual RSUs can assist in estimating initial positions in fault environments.
BER Analysis for Downlink MIMO-NOMA Systems over Rayleigh Fading Channels
Authors: Hoang Son Vu Tran , Le Khoa Dang
Published: December 2021

The Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique combined with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been considered to enhance total system performance. This paper studies the bit error rate of two-user power-domain NOMA systems using successive interference cancellation receivers, with zeroforcing equalization over quasi-static Rayleigh fading channels. Successive interference cancellation technique at NOMA receivers has been the popular research topic due to its simple implementation, despite its vulnerability to error propagation. Closed-form expressions are derived for downlink NOMA in single-input single-output and uncorrelated quasi-static MIMO Rayleigh fading channel. Analytical results are consolidated with Monte Carlo simulation.
Fuzzy Rough Information Measures and their Applications
Authors: Singh Seema , Hooda D.S. , Malik S.C.
Published: December 2021

The degree of roughness characterizes the uncertainty contained in a rough set. The rough entropy was defined to measure the roughness of a rough set. Though, it was effective and useful, but not accurate enough. Some authors use information measure in place of entropy for better understanding which measures the amount of uncertainty contained in fuzzy rough set .In this paper three new fuzzy rough information measures are proposed and their validity is verified. The application of these proposed information measures in decision making problems is studied and also compared with other existing information measures.
Assessment on LSPU-SPCC Students’ Readiness towards M-learning
Authors: A. Erlano-De Torres Joanna
Published: December 2021

Today, the use of technology is a powerful advantage in every field in the society. With the advent of development in information and communications technology (ICT), the process of learning and acquiring new knowledge had undergone a shift marked by a transition from desktop computing to the widespread use of mobile technology. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission on Higher Education said that colleges and universities following the new school calendar will no longer require students to attend face-to-face classes. One of the state universities that had been affected by this inevitable situation is the Laguna State Polytechnic University. This study aims to determine the readiness of the students in shifting to m-learning. Specifically, it aims to determine the availability of mobile devices, equipment readiness, technological skills readiness and psychological readiness. A survey-based methodology was used to obtain the data and descriptive statistics to analyze the results. It was determined that almost all of the students own mobile devices, are fully equipped with applications, have high technological skills and are quite ready in terms of psychological readiness.
Detection Method for Classifying Malicious Firmware
Authors: Noever David , E. Miller Noever Samantha
Published: December 2021

A malicious firmware update may prove devastating to the embedded devices both that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) and that typically lack the same security verifications now applied to full operating systems. This work converts the binary headers of 40,000 firmware examples from bytes into 1024-pixel thumbnail images to train a deep neural network. The aim is to distinguish benign and malicious variants using modern deep learning methods without needing detailed functional or forensic analysis tools. One outcome of this image conversion enables contact with the vast machine learning literature already applied to handle digit recognition (MNIST). Another result indicates that greater than 90% accurate classifications prove possible using image-based convolutional neural networks (CNN) when combined with transfer learning methods. The envisioned CNN application would intercept firmware updates before their distribution to IoT networks and score their likelihood of containing malicious variants. To explain how the model makes classification decisions, the research applies traditional statistical methods such as both single and ensembles of decision trees with identifiable pixel or byte values that contribute the malicious or benign determination.
Improve Security in Smart Cities Based on IoT, Solve Cyber Electronic Attacks with Technology by using Packet Tracer
Authors: Al-hamarneh Raed
Published: December 2021

Smart cities are expected to significantly improve people's quality of life, promote sustainable development, and enhance the efficiency of operations. With the implementation of many smart devices, c problems have become a serious challenge that needs strong treatments, especially the cyber-attack, which most countries suffer from it. My study focuses on the security of smart city systems, which include equipment like air conditioning, alarm systems, lighting, and doors. Some of the difficulties that arise daily may be found in the garage. This research aims to come up with a simulation of smart devices that can be and reduce cyber attach. Use of Cisco Packet tracer Features Simulated smart home and c devices are monitored. Simulation results show that smart objects can be connected to the home portal and objects can be successfullymonitored which leads to the idea of real-life implementation and see. In my research make manysolutions for attachingissues,which was great, and apply some wirelessprotocol.
Information and Communication Security Mechanisms For Microservices-based Systems
Authors: Leines-Vite Lenin , Pérez-Arriaga Juan Carlos , Limón Xavier
Published: December 2021

Security has become paramount in modern software services as more and more security breaches emerge, impacting final users and organizations alike. Trends like the Microservice Architecture bring new security challenges related to communication, system design, development, and operation. The literature presents a plethora of security-related solutions for microservices-based systems, but the spread of information difficult practitioners' adoption of novel security related solutions. In this study, we aim to present a catalogue and discussion of security solutions based on algorithms, protocols, standards, or implementations; supporting principles or characteristics of information security, considering the three possible states of data, according to the McCumber Cube. Our research follows a Systematic Literature Review, synthesizing the results with a meta-aggregation process. We identified a total of 30 primary studies, yielding 75 security solutions for the communication of microservices.
Vacinação contra a COVID-19 em áreas remotas: experiências em saúde indígena
Authors: Santos Evelin Placido dos , Souza Aldalice Aguiar de , Rocha Esron Soares Carvalho , Ramires Vivian Patrícia Moura , Vasconcelos Ana Beatriz Miranda , Dutra Marisangela
Published: December 2021

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Research of features of career development of teachers in highly rated universities in Europe
Authors: Забелина Т.Г.
Published: December 2021

Актуальность данной статьи обусловлена необходимостью изучения особенностей карьерного развития педагога в связи с имеющимися проблемами повышения квалификации в России. Автором сформулировано понятие «карьеры» как своеобразного контекста профессиональной деятельности педагога; выделены факторы, влияющие на развитие карьеры. Цель статьи заключается в исследовании зарубежного взгляда на построение карьерного пути педагога, классифицированы формы организации профессионального развития педагога. Автором утверждается важность изучения зарубежного опыта для переноса в сферу российского образования, его трансформации, взаимозависимость процесса управления профессиональной карьерой и профессионального развития педагога. На основе анализа особенностей карьерного развития за рубежом обозначены основные проблемы, связанные с успешным продвижением педагога в его профессиональной деятельности.
Статья предназначена для педагогов-исследователей, руководителей образовательных организаций высшего профессионального и дополнительного образования.

The relevance of this article is due to the need to study the features of a teacher's career development in connection with the existing problems of professional development in Russia. The author formulates the concept of "career" as a kind of context of a teacher's professional activity; the factors influencing career development are highlighted. The purpose of the article is to study the foreign view on the construction of the career path of a teacher, the forms of organization of professional development of a teacher are classified. The author asserts the importance of studying foreign experience for transfer to the sphere of Russian education, its transformation, the interdependence of the process of professional career management and professional development of a teacher. Based on the analysis of the features of career development abroad, the main problems associated with the successful promotion of a teacher in his professional activity are revealed.
The article is intended for teachers-researchers, heads of educational organizations of higher professional and additional education.
UPAYA PENINGKATAN KREATVITAS GURU DALAM MENGAJAR MELALUI SUPERVISI AKADEMIK DENGAN TEKNIK DEMONSTRATION TEACHING
Authors: Harsini Widyan
Published: December 2021

Pembelajaran yang terjadi di SDN Kembangarum 01 Kota Semarang masih belum mampu memaksimalkan belajar siswa. Hal ini karena ketika itu guru masih menggunakan pola-pola pembelajaran yang masih tradisional atau hanya mengandalkan ceramah dan tanya jawab (teacher centerd) dan kaku tanpa bentuk kreatifitas dari guru untuk menciptakan inovasi pembelajaran dengan kreativitas yang dimilikinya. Beberapa guru masih mengajar khususnya diera pandemi ini tidak menggunakan berbagai media yang mampu meningkatkan kreativitas siswa, siswa hanya diberikan tugas tanpa dirahakan untuk lebih memahami materi tersebut. Kreativitas guru mengajar lazimnya masih sangat minim, guru yang dimohon menunjukkan kemampuannya dalam memahami dan menjelaskan bahan ajar 70% kurang memahami bahan ajar, sedangkan hanya 30% yang memahami dan menjelaskan bahan ajar. Maka pelaksanaan pembelajaran pada SDN Kembangarum 01 Kota Semarang diharapkan dapat memberikan pengajaran yang intensif, inventif, kreatif, berfariasi, serta menggembirakan. Studi ini dimaksudkan untuk menjawab permasalahan apakah supervisi akademik dengan teknik demonstration teaching dapat meningkatkan kreatvitas guru dalam mengajar di SDN Kembangarum 01 Kota Semarang pada Tahun Pelajaran 2020/2021? Permasalahan tersebut di bahas melalui penelitian tindakan kelas yang dilakukan melalui 2 siklus dengan setiap siklus tahapannya adalah perencanaan, tindakan, observasi dan refleksi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa supervisi akademik dengan teknik demonstration teaching dapat meningkatkan kreatvitas guru dalam mengajar di SDN Kembangarum 01 Kota Semarang pada Tahun Pelajaran 2020/2021, hal ini dapat dilihat dari peningkatan hasil profesionalias guru dalam pengelolaan administrasi kelas per siklus dimana pada siklus I ada 11 guru atau 74% dan pada siklus II ada 14 guru atau 93%. Hasil tersebut menunjukkan bahwa hasil tersebut sesuai dengan yang diharapkan. Peningkatan juga terjadi pada keaktidan guru dalam mengikuti supervisi akademik dengan teknik demonstration teaching dimana pada siklus I ada 13 guru atau 80% dan siklus II ada 14 guru atau 93%. Peningkatan tersebut pelaksanaan supervisi akademik dengan teknik demonstration teaching menjadi salah satu cara yang efektif bagi kepala sekolah dalam meningkatkan kreativitas guru dalam pembelajaran.
LESSON STUDY SEBAGAI UPAYA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN GURU DALAM PENILAIAN HASIL BELAJAR PADA MASA PANDEMI COVID 19 DI SDN TANJUNG MAS SEMARANG
Authors: Lestari Siti
Published: December 2021

COVID-19 begitu besar dampaknya bagi pendidikan untuk memutus rantai penularan pandemi COVID-19 pembelajaran yang biasanya dilakukan di sekolah sekarang menjadi belajar di rumah dengan menggunakan berbagai macam aplikasi. Namun selama proses pembelajaran dilakukan dari rumah, guru SDN Tanjung Mas Kecamatan Semarang Utara mengalami kesulitan untuk melakukan penilaian dan pelaporan perkembangan anak didik. Penilaian hanya dilakukan guru berdasarkan tugas yang dikerjakan siswa dan tidak sistematis, guru kuang mampu melakukan penilaian dengan melakukan Dokumen KKM, melakukan tes, penilaian sikap, penilaian pengetahuan, penilaian keterampilan, analisis penilaian harian, remedial, pengayaan, analisis butir soal penilaian dan bank soal, dari 15 Guru hanya 6 guru yang melakukan admisitrasi penilaian siswa sesuai aturan. Oleh karena itu guru membutuhkan kegiatan lesson study. Studi ini dimaksudkan untuk menjawab permasalahan 1) Bagaimanakah pelaksanaan lesson study sebagai upaya peningkatan kemampuan guru dalam penilaian hasil belajar pada masa pandemi covid 19 di SDN Tanjung Mas Kecamatan Semarang Utara Tahun Pelajaran 2020/2021?. 2) Apakah pelaksanaan lesson study dapat meningkatkan kemampuan guru dalam penilaian hasil belajar pada masa pandemi covid 19 di SDN Tanjung Mas Kecamatan Semarang Utara Tahun Pelajaran 2020/2021?. Permasalahan tersebut di bahas melalui penelitian tindakan sekolah yang dilakukan melalui 2 siklus dengan setiap siklus tahapannya adalah perencanaan, tindakan, observasi dan refleksi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: 1) Pelaksanaan lesson study sebagai upaya peningkatan kemampuan guru dalam penilaian hasil belajar pada masa pandemi covid 19 dilakukan dengan memberikan kesempatan kepada guru bekerja kelompok dengan salah satu guru menjadi guru model dan anggota lain menjadi pengamat, setiap permasalahan yang terjadi didiskusikan dalam kerja kelompok dan hasilnya didiskusikan dengan kelompok lain, posisi peneliti memberikan bimbingan dan motivasi terjadi kerja kelompok guru. 2) Pelaksanaan lesson study dapat meningkatkan kemampuan guru dalam penilaian hasil belajar pada masa pandemi covid 19 di SDN Tanjung Mas Kecamatan Semarang Utara Tahun Pelajaran 2020/2021, hal ini dapat dilihat dari peningkatan hasil profesionalias guru dalam pengelolaan administrasi kelas per siklus dimana pada siklus I ada 7 guru atau 47%, dan pada siklus II sudah mencapai ada 13 guru atau 87%. Hasil tersebut menunjukkan bahwa hasil tersebut sesuai dengan yang diharapkan. Peningkatan juga terjadi pada aktivitas guru dalam mengikuti mini worskhsop dimana pada siklus I ada 10 guru atau 67%. Dan naik pada siklus II ada 13 guru atau 87%. Peningkatan tersebut pelaksanaan mini workshop menjadi salah satu cara yang efektif bagi kepala sekolah dalam meningkatkan kemampuan guru dalam menyusun perangkat pembelajaran.
Fitting directed graphical Gaussian models with one hidden variable
Authors: Pennoni Fulvia
Published: December 2021

We discuss directed acyclic graph (DAG) models to represent the independence structure of linear Gaussian systems with continuous variables: such models can be interpreted as a set of recursive univariate regressions. Then we consider Gaussian models in which one of the variables is not observed and we show how the incomplete log-likelihood of the observed data can be maximized using the EM. As the EM algorithm does not provide the matrix of the second derivatives we show how to get an explicit formula for the observed information matrix. We illustrate the utility of the models with two examples.
comparison of different approaches to hierarchical clustering of ordinal data
Authors: Žiberna Aleš , Kejžar Nataša , Golob Petra
Published: December 2021

The paper tries to answer the following question: "How should we treat ordinal data in hierarchical clustering?" The question is strongly connected to the use of questionnaires with ordinal scales in the social sciences. The results could help to differentiate among answers to the questions from questionnaires that could be considered as scale variables, those it would be better to convert to ranks and those that should be treated as nominal variables. To make the results general several two-dimensional combinations of group sizes, shapes and differences between their centers were used as well as one three-dimensional combination. Each combination was simulated both with and without unessential variables. All datasets consisted of 3 groups, each with its own multivariate distribution (2 or 3 variables) with known means and covariances. From each design several datasets were simulated. Each variable was cut and recoded to achieve an ordinal scale. Different cutting schemes were used (the intervals were of equal size, either increasing/decreasing from the lowest to the highest value or decreasing from the mean to both extremes). These new variables were then treated as interval, converted to ranks and treated as nominal. Then hierarchical clustering algorithms were used. Ward's algorithm with Squared Euclidean distance was used when data were considered interval or converted to ranks, and Ward's algorithm with matching coefficient as dissimilarity measure was used when they were considered nominal. The quality of the results was assessed by comparing the gained partitions with the three original groups. We also compared results from clustering the original (uncut) data with the three original groups for comparison. The comparison was made using Corrected Rand Index. The results indicate that in most cases treating the data as interval or converting them to ranks yields better results than treating them as nominal, but the differences are sometimes diminished when cutting into a smaller number of intervals.
Simultaneous estimation of indirect and interaction effects using structural equation models
Authors: Batista-Foguet Joan Manuel , Coenders Germà , Saris Willem , Bisbe Josep
Published: December 2021

Interaction effects are usually modeled by means of moderated regression analysis. Structural equation models with non-linear constraints make it possible to estimate interaction effects while correcting for measurement error. From the various specifications, Jöreskog and Yang's (1996, 1998), likely the most parsimonious, has been chosen and further simplified. Up to now, only direct effects have been specified, thus wasting much of the capability of the structural equation approach. This paper presents and discusses an extension of Jöreskog and Yang's specification that can handle direct, indirect and interaction effects simultaneously. The model is illustrated by a study of the effects of an interactive style of use of budgets on both company innovation and performance.
Maximum likelihood estimation of Lorenz curves using alternative parametric model
Authors: Abdalla Ibrahim M. , Hassan Mohamed Y.
Published: December 2021

In this paper the Lorenz curve proposed by Abdalla and Hassan is fitted to grouped income data of Abu-Dhabi Emirate family expenditure survey, 1997, using Maximum likelihood estimation method and assuming that income shares follow a Dirichlet distribution. Employing Abdalla and Hassan's together with some known parametric Lorenz models, estimates based on the maximum likelihood are compared with those based on nonlinear least squares techniques. Given the nature of the distribution of income and the distinct characteristics of Abu-Dhabi Emirate, it is evident that the maximum likelihood estimation approach produces comparable parameter estimates to the non-linear least squares techniques, but higher standard errors and less goodness of fit. Under the two estimation techniques, the model proposed by Abdalla and Hassan performed well better than some well known parametric models in the literature.
distribution of the ratio of jointly normal variables
Authors: Cedilnik Anton , Košmelj Katarina , Blejec Andrej
Published: December 2021

We derive the probability density of the ratio of components of the bivariate normal distribution with arbitrary parameters. The density is a product of two factors, the first is a Cauchy density, the second a very complicated function. We show that the distribution under study does not possess an expected value or other moments of higher order. Our particular interest is focused on the shape of the density. We introduce a shape parameter and show that according to its sign the densities are classified into three main groups. As an example, we derive the distribution of the ratio Z = − Bm−1 /(mBm ) for a polynomial regression of order m. For m=1, Z is the estimator for the zero of a linear regression, for m = 2 , an estimator for the abscissa of the extreme of a quadratic regression, and for m = 3 , an estimator for the abscissa of the inflection point of a cubic regression.
Electromyographic study of normal and deviant swallowing
Authors: Overstake Charles
Published: December 2021

Summary: The findings of the study reported in this investigation appear to indicate that normal swallowing is a synchronous, precise behavior that utilizes some muscle energy output in all muscles of concern. Deviant swallowing is not only a habitual thrusting of the tongue anteriorly through or against a deviant dental configuration, but also appears to be a disarranged, asynchronous pattern utilizing more muscle energy output in all muscles of concern than in normal swallowing.
Islamic Boarding School People In Politics (Case Study of Miftahul Huda Islamic Boarding School Manonjaya Tasikmalaya)
Authors: Nurjaman Andri , Yusuf Muhamad , Witro Doli
Published: December 2021

The debate about the involvement of Islamic boarding schools in the world of politics is in a tug of war, contradicting each other in the sense of experiencing pros and cons. Miftahul Huda Manonjaya Islamic Boarding School is one of the boarding schools in Tasikmalaya Regency, the founder of the Miftahul Huda Islamic Boarding School is late. K.H. Choer Affandi. There were 20 mandates that he left, one of which forbade him to enter the world of politics, but in the next reality, there were sons and grandsons of K.H. Choer Affandi who entered the world of politics. This article discusses Miftahul Huda Islamic Boarding School students who have entered politics, which seems to contradict one of Uwa Choer Affandi's mandates. This article aims to highlight the goals of Miftahul Huda Islamic boarding school students to enter the world of politics. This article uses qualitative research that is literature. The approach used is the theory of the relationship between religion and the state. The analytical technique used is the analysis technique popularized by Miles and Huberman, namely data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results show that the Miftahul Huda Islamic Boarding School has succeeded in producing scholars as well as politicians whose main goals and motivations are Islamic da'wah, understanding the ahli sunnah wal jamaah, amar ma'ruf nahi munkar, and entering politics in the case of Miftahul Huda (as KH Asep Maoshul and Uu Ruzhanul Ulum) is a mandate from the Kyai Council and in order to carry out the mandate of the late. The main thing for Uwa Choer Affandi is to maintain the aqidah of the ahli sunnah wal jamaah and in the context of izatul Islam wal muslimun (the glory of Islam and the Muslims).
Participation, academic influences and interactions: A comparison of Chinese and U.S. research universities on ResearchGate
Authors: Yan Weiwei , Zhang Yin
Published: December 2021

ResearchGate (RG) is an academic social networking (ASN) site that is used worldwide for scholarly communication. This study examines RG users from 21 top Chinese research universities and 61 U.S. research universities from three research activity levels to identify the differences in participation, interactions, and academic influences between their affiliated institutions on this ASN platform. The implications on scholarly communication and evaluation using altmetrics across nations are discussed.
Evidential representation of using the modern devices and decisionmaking feasibility in Pakistan
Authors: Saeed Muhammad Arif , Gillani Aftab Hussain
Published: December 2021

In the long run of modernity and technicality, the use of smart appliances in every field of life has been the need and demand of the era. The evidential representation by using modern devices is permissible in various developed judiciary cultures of the world. Pakistani courts and the judiciary system are also adopting modern devices to present the evidence in the courts for authentic decision-making. The articles and sections of Qanun-e-Shahadat order, 1984 and Electronic Certification Accreditation Council under Section 18 clarified using modern technologies to present the evidence in the courts with state and religion's perspectives of acceptability. The study descriptively demonstrated various types of modern devices use for evidential representation of offenders data; press reports and press clips, fax, email and internet evidence, cell phones, computer-related data, audio recordings, photographs and screenshots, video films and video cassettes, CCTV footage, polygraphy test and DNA test. In each type of modern evidential representation, the registered, recorded and solved cases have also been mentioned as proof of modern devices application in court decision-making feasibility. The study found that the unapproached low-class sector of society feels reluctant to rely on and use modern devices for court hearings and decision-making due to unawareness and unavailability of modern resources. There is also the issue of some insecurities and inadequacies of using modern devices as evidential representation because of editing, cropping and regenerating the duplicate evidence that could not be verified due to lack of technical flaws and advancement of computerized technology.
PARASITIC NEMATODE INFECTIONS OF ANURANS FROM A DERIVED SAVANNA BIOTOPE IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA
Authors: Ozemoka H. J. , Aisien M. S. O.
Published: December 2021

As part of a broader study to increase the information of parasite infections of anurans from the savanna biotope, an investigation of the nematode parasites of anurans in Agbede, a location in the derived savanna of Edo State, Nigeria was undertaken from August 2007 to July 2008. Anurans were collected at night using the visual acoustic encounter survey (VAES) sampling method, dissected and examined for nematode infections. A total of 329 anurans belonging to sixteen taxa, were examined, of which 235 were infected with an overall prevalence of 71.43%. Seasonal prevalences were 85.63% for wet season and 52.48% for the dry season (p<0.05). Ten nematode species, namely: Amplicaecum africanum, Cosmocerca ornata, Oswaldocruzia hoeplii, Physaloptera sp., Rhabdias africanus, Rhabdias sp., Camallanus dimitrovi, an unidentified oxyurid nematode, Ophidascaris larva, and an unidentified nematode were recovered from the hosts examined. The most common nematode species was Amplicaecum africanum (31.31%), whereas the least common was an unidentified oxyurid nematode (0.30%).Physaloptera sp. is a new record for the anurans of the derived savanna.
The Impact of Internal Audit on Financial Performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria
Authors: A.K. Alashe , A.O. Bello
Published: December 2021

The main aim of this seminar paper is to investigate the impact of internal audit on financial performance of money deposit banks in Nigeria. The population of this study was 22 commercial license banks in Nigeria in which 16 money deposit banks were sampled using judgmental sampling technique and hypergeometric formula. Primary data with respect to questionnaires were used to collect data. 15 questionnaires were distributed to each sampled bank but in all the 360 questionnaires distributed, 334 questionnaires were correctly retrieved and found usable. The research tools used were Ordinary Linear Regression (OLS) with correlation, Adjusted R Square and Standard Error using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software. The result(r=28.9%) showed that there was a relationship between internal audit and the profitability of money deposit banks in Nigeria. Also, internal audit reporting channels have a positive effect (r=25.5%) on financial performance of money deposit banks in Nigeria. The study concluded that there was a positive relationship between internal audit and the financial performance of money deposit banks in Nigeria. Likewise, internal audit reporting channels have an effect on financial performance of banks in Nigeria. The study recommended that money deposit banks in Nigeria should strengthen their internal audit and their internal auditing reporting channels as they were both important to their financial performance.
N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) and Cytochrome 2C9 (CYP2C9) Genes Polymorphisms in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Yaoundé, Cameroon
Authors: H.C. Dongmo , A.M. Nji , J.P.K. Chedjou , M. Guewo-Fokeng , A.H.M. Ekollo , C.M. Mbu’u , L.N. Ngum , C.P. Bisseck , C.F. Tah , E. Sobngwi , J.C. Mbanya , W.F. Mbacham
Published: December 2021

Although several environmental factors influence the onset of type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), genetic factors contribute to an individual vulnerability to this disease. This study was aimed at studying CYP2C9*3 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and NAT2 gene polymorphisms, and their correlation, if any, in the susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This was a case-control study involving 70 participants living in Yaoundé, Cameroon. DNA was extracted by Chelex 100 method. Polymorphisms of NAT2 gene and CYP2C9*3 SNP were assessed using Polymerase Chain Reaction – Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). NAT2 gene characterization revealed the predominance of NAT2*5 alleles (35%) and slow metabolizing phenotype (72.9%). CYP2C9 gene characterization revealed the predominance of the wild-type allele (54%) and intermediate metabolizing phenotype (91%). Individuals with the “NAT2 slow metabolizer” phenotype were more likely to have T2DM while those with “intermediate metabolizer” phenotype were less likely to develop this disease (OR = 3.9740, P = 0.0009 and OR = 0.1406, P = 0.0044, respectively). CYP2C9*3 had no discernable predisposition to T2DM (OR= 0.1765, P= 0.1981). This study demonstrates that the NAT2 slow metabolizer phenotype could be associated with the development of T2DM in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
A case of acute pancreatitis with normal serum amylase and lipase value
Authors:   Consultant Gastroenterologist, Department of Gastroenterology, Desun Hospital and Heart Institute, Kolkata 700107, India, Paul Jayanta
Published: December 2021

There are several causes of acute pancreatitis (AP). In clinical practice, AP is diagnosed by presence of acute pain abdomen, elevated serum amylase and lipase value (>3 times of upper limit of normal) and ultrasonographic (USG) findings of acute pancreatitis but in only 25-50% of patients with acute pancreatitis, pancreas is visualised. In this case, 44 years gentleman was presented with acute pain abdomen, normal serum amylase and lipase value and no pancreatic abnormality in abdominal USG. After diagnosis of elevated serum triglyceride, computed tomography (CT scan) of abdomen was done to exclude hypertriglyceridemia induced AP. CT scan abdomen showed features of acute pancreatitis. Therefore, in every patient with acute pain abdomen if serum amylase and lipase value and USG abdomen are normal, serum triglyceride should be advised to rule out hypertriglyceridemia induced AP. In this case report we are going to present a case of acute pancreatitis with normal serum amylase and lipase value.
A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON THE USE OF HUMOR IN TURKISH TEACHING IN SECONDARY SCHOOL
Authors: Çarkıt Cafer , Canalıcı meryem
Published: December 2021

This research aims to determine the use of humor in Turkish classes in secondary schools. To this end, firstly, the humorous elements in the Turkish textbooks were examined, and then Turkish teachers’ views on these elements and their views and classroom practices regarding the use of humor in their classes were determined. The study was designed according to the case study method, one of the qualitative research methods. The humorous elements in the Turkish textbooks were collected through the document review method, and the views and classroom practices of the Turkish teachers regarding the use of humor were collected through a semi-structured interview form. In this context, interviews were made with 15 Turkish teachers working in public schools. The content analysis method was used to analyze the obtained data. According to the findings, most of the interviewed teachers included humorous elements in their classes through various classroom practices. In addition, it was determined that teachers consider humorous elements important because such elements increase students’ motivation and make classes more interesting. Finally, it was concluded that Turkish textbooks do not contain enough humorous elements.
A CEFR BASED EVALUATION OF B1+ LEVEL PREPARATORY PROGRAM AT A TURKISH STATE UNIVERSITY: THE APPLICATION OF THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE SKILLS SCALE
Authors: Duruk Eda
Published: December 2021

Despite the centrality of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in language teaching and assessment, studies investigating its learning outcomes in language program evaluations are quite scarce. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a modular English preparatory school program through the Foreign Language Skills Scale. The research sample consists of 357 preparatory school students having attained B1+ level of proficiency in the program. The results revealed that while the language program designed to be in line with the CEFR guidelines, in general, serves for the needs of the students, there are still some discrepancies between the learning outcomes of B1+ and opinions of students about their competencies, especially in listening sub-skills.