bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Systematic Review of Spatial Thinking in Mathematics Education
Authors: Riyan Hidayat  , Saad Mohd Rashid Mohd , Ismail Normala , Noor Mohd Asri Mohd
Published: January 2024

The objective of this study is to perform a comprehensive analysis of existing research on spatial thinking abilities using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). To achieve this, five search engines (Scopus, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and ERIC) were utilized during various stages, including identification, screening, eligibility, inclusion, and data analysis. Adhering to the PRISMA reporting rules, a total of 22 articles were included, selected mainly from the sorted studies. The results of our research indicate that there were four studies conducted using a mixed method approach, while nine studies utilized a quantitative approach, and another nine focused on qualitative methods. The number of studies investigating spatial thinking has consistently increased over the years. The findings section revealed that the majority of studies on this subject were authored by researchers from the USA, followed by authors from Australia, Turkey, Israel, Germany, Spain, China, Slovakia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Development of Learning Media for Local Wisdom Pendalungan Through 10 in 1 Box
Authors: Cahya Kevin
Published: January 2024

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengkaji validitas buku panduan program edukasi penguatan literasi-numerasi dengan budaya lokal Pendalungan melalui pemanfaatan media kotak 10 in 1 untuk dijadikan pedoman pembuatan media pembelajaran yang meningkatkan kemampuan memahami literasi dan numerasi kepada siswa. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah penelitian dan pengembangan dengan menggunakan model pengembangan ADDIE. Ada dua komponen penting dalam penelitian ini, yaitu 1) Langkah penelitian pertama adalah menciptakan dan mengembangkan pembelajaran literasi dan numerasi sesuai dengan acuan kurikulum saat ini. Kemudian hasil penelitian ini memiliki tahapan proses yang dibagi menjadi lima tahap yaitu, (1) Analisis, (2) Desain, (3) Pengembangan, (4) Pelaksanaan, dan (5) Evaluasi. Uji validitas dari analisis hasil proses validasi ini mengungkapkan bahwa semua aspek yang dievaluasi oleh validator memiliki persentase di atas rata-rata, mencapai 88,75%, menunjukkan bahwa setiap indikator yang dinilai berada dalam kategori "sangat layak". Dengan langkah-langkah penelitian tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa buku panduan program edukasi penguatan literasi-numerasi dengan budaya lokal Pendalungan melalui pemanfaatan media kotak 10 in 1 sangat layak digunakan sehingga memberikan kontribusi positif dalam upaya pelestarian dan pengajaran kearifan lokal kepada generasi muda, sekaligus meningkatkan pemahaman mahasiswa terhadap budaya lokal yang kaya dan beragam
Exploration of study objects on the potential of wild mushrooms growing on oil palm empty bunches for learning in the subject of IPAS project at vocational school
Authors: Lestari Lestari , Kusumaningtyas Pintaka , Erika Farah
Published: January 2024

The IPAS Project has a study object in the form of concrete objects and social phenomena found in nature, and it is developed based on empirical experience. This study aimed to find out various alternative study objects regarding the potential of wild mushrooms growing on oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs) piled at oil palm plantations. The research was descriptive exploratory research. Data were collected through field study, documentation, and literature study. The collected data were analyzed by using thematic analysis from Philip Marrying. The result of the field study found 12 types of wild mushrooms growing on the decayed OPEFBs. Those mushrooms were then identified based on their morphological characteristics. In this study, we found three alternative study objects towards mushrooms growing on OPEFB, which can be developed in the IPAS Project learning: (1) mushroom cultivation using OPEFB waste which includes 4 aspects (living things and their environment, substance, and their changes, earth and space, economic behavior and welfare), (2) morphological characterization for classification of mushroom including 3 aspects (living things and their environment, substance and their changes, social interaction and social dynamics), and (3) detection of chemical compounds present in mushroom, covering 3 aspects (living things and their environment, substance and their changes, economic behavior and welfare).
CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT BASED ON INTERNAL COACHING IN SCHOOL INSTITUTIONS
Authors: Hikmawati Risa  , Nurjannah Nurjannah , Utomo  Erry
Published: January 2024

Continuous professional development is a program carried out to improve teacher competencein carrying out their duties. The fact shows that implementing continuous professionaldevelopment has not significantly improved teacher professionalism. This program has notbeen running consistently, due to a lack of internal motivation from teachers who tend not toplay an active role in the culture of independent learning, because they still position themselveswaiting for professional development activities from external parties to improve theircompetence. This study aims to develop a model of continuous professional developmentthrough school institutions based on internal coaching. Internal coaching is the basic capital forteachers to become lifelong learners and self-directed for increasing competency. The researchwas conducted through a development method using the Smith and Ragan model implementedin an integrated Islamic elementary school that has implemented continuous professionaldevelopment programs for almost two years, since 2019. The constructed hypothetical model isa continuous professional development model based on internal coaching through thestimulation of reflective, participatory, innovative, and collaborative abilities integrated into theschool system to form a culture of independent learning for teachers. The implication ofresearch for further development of teacher empowerment at the school level.
Reading Research Journal Articles in an EFL context: A Pilot Study on Confidence and Difficulty
Authors: Ahada Ichi , Sunggingwati Dyah , Susilo Susilo , Rini Setyowati Dea
Published: January 2024

This study is based on previous research that compared to textbooks, students find both the style and the level of writing of empirical articles such as research journal articles is difficult to understand. The stages of reading the journal articles are complex. Moreover, there are more studies found in sciences resulted various difficulties but limited research in a foreign language context as the journal articles are written in English. Therefore, there needs an investigation the complexity of reading journal articles to provide some way out to lessen the challenges. As a pilot study for further investigation, a questionnaire was delivered online using google form to 28 students enrolled in the courses of Advanced Reading and Advanced Writing, aged 19-22. They learn to read journal articles in the courses. The given questionnaire consisted of two sections; students self-rated confidence (adapted from Sego and Stuart, 2015) and difficulties in reading comprehension of journal articles (adopted from Chen, 2017). Using simple descriptive statistics, the results revealed that the students have three most major difficulties in reading journal articles, namely short attention span, having a problem understanding the main points, and Limited semantic knowledge (professional terms). They also have three main least challenges; do not know where to start reading, do not understand the tables, charts or statistics, memory failure. The students have the highest confidence in their ability to read and understand the content, however they have the least confidence in their abilities to write coherent summaries of journal articles. The findings imply that the students need to have more time to familiarize themselves with characteristics and construction of journal articles including what should be written in each section of the paper such as introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion, and implication and limitation of the study.
Injection Moulding Simulation: The Development of Integral Hinges Test Samples Mould Design via Cadmould 3D-F
Authors: Othman M. H.
Published: January 2024

Injection moulding process ability’s in producing intricate parts such as component with integral hinges, had been established for decades. However, to produce a good product, a niche verification process called simulation need to be performed first. Hence, this research was conducted for the development an integral hinges test samples mould design via injection moulding simulation. The simulation output was used to analyse the injection moulding parameter setting and defects towards the prepared mould design. The runner size and shape was fixed, same as well for the gate location and number of cavities. The test sample that needed to be developed was a sample with an integral hinge at the middle of the injected mould article. Polypropylene PPC 8780 (Total Petrochemical) was selected as the reference material. The research methodology started from using SolidWorks as the solid modelling-computer aided design software to prepare the design. This design was then converted into the stereolithography (STL) format. Cadmould 3D-F injection moulding simulation software was chosen as the computed added engineering analysis tools. Parameters such as temperature and time was monitored. The defects such as sink marks, volumetric shrinkage, warpage, weld lines, and air traps were observed. The results show that the mould design had produced 232°C temperature and 0.179 s time when the molten polymer was completely filled. It also produced several defects such as 0.882 % of volume shrinkage and 0.025 mm of warpage. Some sink marks occurred at the above part of the hinge, with 1 weld line and 9 air traps were also detected after the simulation completes. The conclusion of this finding is, the simulation could assist the mould designer to prepare necessary countermeasures in the actual process, and to prepare a better mould with minimum alteration/repair and accelerating setup/preparation time. Hence, the time and cost of a mould could be reduced, especially for new mould design for integral hinge products.
A Portrait of Tri Kaya Parisudha in Cingkreman (Hofstede's Study of Cultural Dimensions)
Authors: Eka Putri Suryantari  , Ni Luh Putu Wiagustini  , I Putu Sudana  , Ni Ketut Rasmini
Published: January 2024

Cultural practices in society are greatly influenced by the extent to which they are able to provide benefits to those who practice them. One of the cultural practices that is still found in the heritage region of the city of Denpasar is called cingkreman. This is a culture-based and family-based financial planning and savings system. Cingkreman is based on an agreement between individuals to join a cingkreman group (sekaa). The period of participation for one period corresponds to the cycle of the Galungan holidays, namely 210 days. The novelty of this research is to bring to the surface the cultural practices that exist in society so that efforts can be made to preserve the tradition of cingkreman. This is qualitative research with an interpretive paradigm that uses an ethnomethodological approach. The aim of this research is to find out how the concept of Tri Kaya Parisudha (moral teaching about personal behavior) is applied to cingkreman and how this practice continues to exist in the midst of society. The data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs). The research results show that the Tri Kaya Parisudha concept is practiced in the cingkreman system. The behavior of the members and coordinators of a sekaa, as reflected in the themes resulting from the stages of Garfinkel's analysis, reflects kayika parisudha (good acts), wacika parisudha (good speech), and manacika parisudha (good thought). The foundation of behavior based on these three noble attitudes of Tri Kaya Parisudha is able to produce cultural values which cause the practice of cingkreman to provide benefits to its practitioners. The benefits felt by these actors mean that cingkreman will continue to be practiced, and this is one of the reasons why the carrying out of cingkreman persists amidst technological advances which are slowly eroding existing cultural practices in society. Hofstede's cultural dimensions that are found in the practice of cingkreman include uncertainty avoidance, collectivity, and femininity. The dimension of power differences is not found because, in the practice of cingkreman, there are no differences between the participants in the social strata. Everyone has the same right to join the cingkreman group.
Perceptive area and coordinating management in inter-refessional relations
Authors: Kurachev D. G. , Kuracheva L. G.
Published: January 2024

This paper reveals the perceptual field of interfaith contacts, its content, functions, forms, scope. The relationship between traditional and non-traditional religious communities is empirically verified at different depths of church formation. The field work, which served as the basis for further generalization, was carried out in Moscow, the Kama region, Bashkortostan on a sample of about 3,000 believers. Among the studied confessional groups there are Orthodoxy, Islam, Finno-Ugric paganism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists, Pentecostals, Vaishnavs (Hare Krishnas). The methodological position is grouped through a compilation of Kant's transcendental, socio-cultural and structural approaches, dialectics, cultural anthropology and social phenomenology. The study was conducted by means of included observation, with full immersion in the everyday life of the studied confessional groups, as well as the use of semantic, projective, and survey methods. Thus, the paper analyzes the specifics of social attitudes at the emotional, cognitive and behavioral levels, as well as the semantic fullness of perceptual images. Moreover, it also illustrates the specifics of reactions in conflict situations and touches upon the problems connected with revealing the discourse on the potential danger and real threat in the confessional sphere of public relations, the impossibility of abandoning these processes in the sphere of free and uncontrolled pluralism, the need for state mediation. Finally, the research discusses the means of containing interreligious antagonisms.
Innovative Livestock: A Survey of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Livestock Farming Management
Authors: M. Mijwil Maad , Adelaja Oluwaseun , Badr Amr , Ali Guma , Apparatus Buruga Bosco , Pudasaini Pramila
Published: January 2024

Modern technology has recently become a meaningful part of all life sectors, as software, sensors, smart machines, and expert systems are successfully integrated into the physical environment. This technology relies in its work on artificial intelligence techniques to make the right decisions at the right time. These technologies have a significant role in improving productivity, product quality, and industry outputs by significantly reducing human labour and errors that humans may cause. Artificial intelligence techniques are increasingly being integrated into animal husbandry and animal revolution management because they provide advantages and means that serve agriculturalists. These techniques monitor the emotional state of animals, milk production and herd management, feeding habits, the movement of animals, and their health status. AI-powered sensors can monitor the health of livestock and detect early signs of illness or stress to which they are exposed. Also, these techniques contribute to assisting agriculturalists in customising feeding programs, reducing waste, and improving product quality. This article will discuss the role of artificial intelligence techniques in animal control, farm management, disease surveillance, and sustainable resource optimisation practices.
Design an Improved Trust-based Quality of Service AwareRouting in Cognitive Mobile Ad-Hoc Network
Authors: Dr. Alok Singh Chauhan  , H Mary Henrietta
Published: January 2024

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are wireless networks that can be configured at will. It has no infrastructure and centralized control, so it is only suitable for provisional communications. In a dynamically topological and resource-constrained network, ensuring QoS and security is challenging. MANETs are dynamic networks, so navigating them can be challenging and more susceptible to attacks. MANET requires significant memory, speed, and transmission bandwidth for conventional security measures like cryptographic techniques. Consequently, these methods are unsuitable for identifying malicious behaviour or self-centered nodes. Nodes that are malicious, selfish, or malfunctioning can be identified based on the trust method, which calculates how much trust exists between them. A trust-based QOS-aware routing protocol is proposed in this paper to calculate trust in MANET (I-TQAR). The tree important performance metrics are considered for result validation such as delay, throughput and packet delivery ratio (PDR). I-TQAR offers significantly improved performance in all areas compared to the existing TQR and TQOR protocols.
Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) Based Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) Clustering Approach for MRI Images Segmentation
Authors: Al Aqad Mohammed H. , Luis Miguel Oliveira de Barros Cardoso
Published: January 2024

Thousands of real-life ants have been used to improve the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) technique. Significant improvement can be noticed in segmented images using ACO-based rather than random initialization. The segmentation quality has improved as a result of the noise reduction. Clustering based on FCM is used to segment medical images. To avoid local optimal results, cluster centres are initially determined using ACO. This paper shows that our approach (ACO-FCM) provides significant improvements. In ACO-FCM, brain tissues are classified more accurately because there are more correctly classified pixels. As a result of our approach, such tissues can be classified more accurately based on spatial information
Experimental Evidence that Activewear Retail Imagery Elicits Physiological, Attentional andSelf-reported Markers of Body Image Threat in Women
Authors: Hollett Ross C , Bhusal Muna , Gilani Syed Zulqarnain , Harms Craig , Griffiths Scott
Published: January 2024

Online apparel retail imagery is a prominent threat to women’s body image, particularly segments such as activewear which emphasize the value of women’s bodies. In a within-subjects experiment, we exposed women (N = 128) to imagery randomly selected from activewear, casualwear and homewares websites and measured their gaze behavior, physiological arousal, as well as subjective mood and body image ratings. Exposure to activewear retail imagery elicited significantly lower body image ratings, higher negative mood, and lower positive mood compared to the other website imagery conditions. Physiological arousal was significantly higher for both apparel imagery conditions compared to the homewares imagery condition. Body biased gaze behavior was significantly higher for the activewear imagery condition compared to the casualwear imagery condition. Notably, trait body shame moderated the self-reported but not the physiological experimental effects, such that women with higher trait body shame experienced stronger adverse changes in their body image and mood ratings following activewear exposure. Correlational results revealed that self-reported experimental responses to the activewear imagery were strongly associated with self-objectification, appearance comparison, disordered eating and body image coping attitudes. As such, exposure to popular apparel imagery may play a role in maintaining maladaptive body image attitudes and behaviors in women.
Spiritual Appeals Underperform Civic Appeals in Depolarizing Christian Partisans
Authors: Chu James , Park Yejin
Published: January 2024

Christian partisans in the United States demonstrate high levels of affective polarization and anti-democratic attitudes, but how to depolarize this group remains poorly understood. Social identity theory suggests that spiritually framed depolarization appeals from a religious messenger may be more effective than secular appeals. We test this claim in a pre-registered survey experiment, where American Christian partisans (N=3,066) were randomly assigned to watch one of three videos highlighting common ground with outparty individuals. The control was a civic appeal, where the speaker identified as American and urged participants to reflect on shared American values. In the “spiritual unity” appeal, the speaker identified as a Christian pastor and urged participants to follow the example of Jesus in bridging political division. In the “spiritual opponent” appeal, the pastor further highlighted how individuals, regardless of political party, are on the same side against spiritual forces seeking to sow division. Neither spiritual appeal outperformed the civic appeal on reducing affective polarization, and both spiritual appeals modestly increased outparty dehumanization. The spiritual opponent appeal also increased support for anti-democratic attitudes and Christian Nationalism. We do not find heterogeneous effects for participants identifying as White, Evangelical, or Republican. These findings suggest that spiritual appeals may not be more effective than secular ones at depolarizing Christians.
Fast relocking and afterslip-seismicity evolution following the 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel earthquake in Chile
Authors: Hormazabal Joaqin , Moreno Marcos , Oretga-Culaciati Francisco , Baez Juan-Carlos , Pena Carlos , Sippl Christian , Gonzalez Vidal Diego , Ruiz Javier , Metzger Sabrina , Yoshioka Shoichi
Published: January 2024

Large subduction earthquakes induce complex postseismic deformation, primarily driven by afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation, in addition to interplate relocking processes. However, these signals are intricately intertwined, posing challenges in determining the timing and nature of relocking. Here, we use six years of continuous GNSS measurements (2015-2021) to study the spatio-temporal evolution of afterslip, seismicity and locking after the 2015 Illapel earthquake (Mw 8.3). Afterslip is invertedfrom postseismic displacements corrected for nonlinear viscoelastic relaxation modeled using a power-law rheology, and the distribution of locking is obtained from the linear trend of GNSS stations. Our results show that afterslip is mainly concentrated in two zones surrounding the region of largest coseismic slip. The accumulated afterslip (M w 7.8) exceeds 1.5 m, with aftershocks mainly occurring at the boundaries of the afterslip patches. Our results reveal that the region experiencing the largest coseismic slip undergoes rapid relocking, exhibiting the behavior of a persistent velocity weakening asperity, with no observed aftershocks or afterslip within this region during the observed period. The rapid relocking of this asperity may explain the almost regular recurrence time of earthquakes in this region, as similar events occurred in 1880 and 1943.
Politically motivated bullshit receptivity: Ideology, epistemology, and receptivity to pseudo-profound bullshit across domains
Authors: Nilsson Artur , Grindbo Niklas , Aspernäs Julia , Erlandsson Arvid
Published: January 2024

Two studies investigated the relationship between political ideology and receptivity to pseudo-profound bullshit (i.e., obscure sentences constructed to impress others rather than convey truth) in the New Age, financial, corporate, postmodern, and ideological domains, among Swedish adults (N = 150; N = 986, preregistered). Social conservative but not economic right-wing values showed robust associations with higher receptivity across types of bullshit, mediated particularly by subjectivist, dichotomous, non-active open-minded, analytical, and apophenic thinking. Social conservative and progressive values, and preference particularly for far left and right parties, were associated with receptivity to ideologically congenial bullshit. Populism and antidemocratic attitudes (which occur on the far left and right) predicted bullshit receptivity across domains, but partisanship did not. Distance from the center on political values even predicted lower bullshit receptivity in some cases. These results demonstrate ideological asymmetries and symmetries, with distinct underpinnings, and extremism and centrism effects.
Guidelines for Increasing Access to Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Under-Resourced Schools
Authors: Phan Mary L. , Renshaw Tyler L , Farley Caleb Douglas
Published: January 2024

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in schools have become increasingly popular, as these practices can be integrated into classrooms by teachers, adapted to fit the individual needs of students or groups of students, and implemented as a schoolwide commitment to improve well-being. Research shows that MBIs are broadly effective for improving a variety of social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes for diverse students. However, implementation of MBIs in under-resourced schools presents a unique set of challenges for school staff. This paper addresses this issue constructively by providing guidelines for increasing access to MBIs in under-resourced schools. First, we provide a brief overview of common ecological barriers—and potential solutions—to implementing MBIs in under-resourced schools at the individual-level, team-level, school-level, and macro-level. This overview is followed by recommendations for de-implementing outdated interventions and implementing MBIs instead. Finally, we complete our guidelines by describing the Adapting Strategies to Promote Implementation Reach and Equity (ASPIRE) framework and how this heuristic can be applied to guide culturally sensitive and equity-focused adaptations to MBIs in under-resourced schools.
Referential transparency of verbs in child-directed input by Japanese and American caregivers
Authors: Fitch Allison , Lieberman Amy , Frank Michael C. , Brough Jessica , Valleau Matthew , Arunachalam Sudha
Published: January 2024

Children acquiring Japanese differ from those acquiring English with regard to the rate at which verbs are learned (Fernald & Morikawa, 1993). One possible explanation is that Japanese caregivers use verbs in referentially transparent contexts, which facilitate the form-meaning link. We examined this hypothesis by assessing differences in verb usage by Japanese and American caregivers during dyadic play with their infants (5-22 months). We annotated verb-containing utterances for elements associated with referential transparency and compared across groups. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found that Japanese caregivers used verbs in fewer referentially transparent contexts than American caregivers, or did not significantly differ from American caregivers, depending on the measure. These findings cast doubt on cross-cultural differences in referential transparency between Japanese and American child-directed input.
Validation and Comparison of Non-Stationary Cognitive Models: A Diffusion Model Application
Authors: Schumacher Lukas , Schnuerch Martin , voss andreas , Radev Stefan
Published: January 2024

Cognitive processes undergo various fluctuations and transient states across different temporal scales. Superstatistics are emerging as a flexible framework for incorporating such non-stationary dynamics into existing cognitive model classes. In this work, we provide the first experimental validation of superstatistics and formal comparison of four non-stationary diffusion decision models in a specifically designed perceptual decision-making task. Task difficulty and speed-accuracy trade-off were systematically manipulated to induce expected changes in model parameters. To validate our models, we assess whether the inferred parameter trajectories align with the patterns and sequences of the experimental manipulations. To address computational challenges, we present novel deep learning techniques for amortized Bayesian estimation and comparison of models with time-varying parameters. Our findings indicate that transition models incorporating both gradual and abrupt parameter shifts provide the best fit to the empirical data. Moreover, we find that the inferred parameter trajectories closely mirror the sequence of experimental manipulations. Posterior re-simulations further underscore the ability of the models to faithfully reproduce critical data patterns. Accordingly, our results suggest that the inferred non-stationary dynamics may reflect actual changes in the targeted psychological constructs. We argue that our initial experimental validation paves the way for the widespread application of superstatistics in cognitive modeling and beyond.
COVID-19-Related Distress: Validation studies of the COVID Stress Scales (CSS) with Portuguese Adolescents and Adults
Authors: DA SILVA OLIVEIRA MARTA FILIPA PRATAS VIEIRA , Fernandes Carina , Barbosa Fernando , Ferreira-Santos Fernando
Published: January 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on people’s lives, changing daily routines, decreasing social contacts, and increasing the prevalence of adverse psychiatric symptoms such as extreme fears, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress. Several measures have been developed to assess the psychological impact of the pandemic, most of them focused on the adult population. Our study presents the validation of the COVID Stress Scales (CSS; Taylor et al., 2020), a self-report instrument developed at an early stage of the pandemic, assessing COVID-related distress. Parallel Analysis, Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed for adolescents (n = 300) and adults (n = 101), with distinct models of the CSS emerging in the two groups, maintaining a common four-factor structure including Danger, Contamination Fears, Socioeconomic Consequences Fears, and Traumatic Stress Symptoms dimensions. Although the CSS were initially developed for adults, our study supported the good psychometric properties of the CSS both in adolescents (particularly vulnerable to the consequences of the pandemic during this developmental period) and adults, providing a valid instrument to assess COVID-related distress throughout the development and enabling future interventions to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic.
The Myth of the Decline Effect in Psi Research: The Empirical Evidence
Authors: Tressoldi Patrizio , Storm Lance
Published: January 2024

The decline effect (DE) has been discussed in “psi” research since the early times of experimental investigations, and many causes have been advanced from individual psychology, social attitudes, electromagnetic fields, experimental artifacts, or physical properties often related to quantum physics. Bierman (2001) found small and statistically significant decline slopes in all experimental protocols, but the mind-matter interaction with random number generators, where he found a positive quadratic polynomial slope. This study aimed to update Bierman’s results, taking into account all studies completed up to 2023 and analyzed in different meta-analyses. Five experimental protocols were analyzed, including anomalous perception in a Ganzfeld condition, remote viewing, forced-choice design in extra-sensory perception, predictive physiological anticipation, and dream extra-sensory perception studies. The results showed that only one slope coefficient out of the five examined was statistically significant, indicating that there was no evidence of a general DE across the different experimental protocols.
Factors influencing agricultural students' academic performance at the University of Abuja, Nigeria
Authors:   Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Abuja, FCT, PMB. 117, Abuja, Nigeria., Achagwa Salihu Musa , Sennuga Samson Olayemi ,   Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Abuja, FCT, PMB. 117, Abuja, Nigeria., Bankole Osho-Lagunju ,   Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Abuja, FCT, PMB. 117, Abuja, Nigeria., Omolayo Alabuja Funso ,   Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Abuja, FCT, PMB. 117, Abuja, Nigeria.
Published: January 2024

The main objective of this study is to examine the factors affecting the academic performance of agricultural students at the University of Abuja Nigeria. Data were collected by the use of structured questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. The population of this study comprises all active registered agricultural students faculty of agriculture across levels and departments from 100 levels to PhD except 400 level students that were on industrial training. Convenience, purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to collect data. Yaro Yamani formula was used to calculate the sample size (284). Descriptive statistic was used to analyze all the objectives. 53.8% of the respondents are female while 46.2% are male. 48.4% of the students have an age range between 21-30 years. 49.6% of the respondent has a household size of 1-5. 84% of the respondents are undergraduate students. 55.5% of the respondents have monthly school allowances/ income of 10,000-50,000. This study found that uncomfortable learning environments, family background, difficulties in understanding the subject of agriculture, teachers students ratio, information overload, performance pressure, unhealthy lifestyle, gadgets distractions, loss of interest and wrong reading practice, over-confidence, poor teaching skills, exams phobia, inadequate power/electricity supply, inadequate hostel accommodation, unequipped laboratories, poor diet, poor class attendance, financial problems, wrong mindset, procrastination, poor time management/ laziness and lack of preparation are the factors militating against excellent academic performance of the students in the study area with a mean score of 2 and above. The following recommendations were made. A more conducive learning and working environment should be provided for both students and lecturers in the faculty. Instructional materials as well as well-equipped laboratories should be provided for the faculty. Finally, the students should be sensitized on the importance of being hard-working, focused and determined in the pursuit of their studies.
Clinical, Radiographic and Analytical Findings of Atypical Rabies Encephalitis in a Five-Year-Old Boy: A Case Report
Authors: Gupta Manoj Kumar , Acharya Prakriti , Jha Aman , Paudel Prabin
Published: January 2024

Introduction: Rabies is an almost always fatal disease that doctors and patients fear because of its bleak prognosis and limited treatment choices. In the absence of special laboratory investigations at the point-of-care facility, the diagnosis is usually clinical. We present a case of rabies encephalitis with a dog bite history and standard MRI findings that can be used for early identification in the absence of usual clinical signs and specialized diagnostic testing.
A Study of Tuberculous Pleural Effusion in Province 2, Southern Nepal
Authors: Kurmi Roshan , Chaurasiya Anand , Jha Sudhakar , Sah Sanjay Kumar
Published: January 2024

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in developing countries. Tuberculous pleural effusion is the second most common form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB) (after lymphatic involvement) and is the most common cause of pleural effusion in areas where TB is endemic. The aim of this study is to depict the pattern of the Tuberculous Pleural Effusion (TPE) with its clinical presentation and diagnosis along with the different laboratory parameters of the TB patients at a tertiary care center of the Southern Nepal. Materials and Methods: A prospective hospital based cross-sectional study enrolling 107 subjects diagnosed as TBPE presenting to the Department of Internal Medicine, National Medical College was carried out from 15th March, 2023 to 14th October, 2023 (7 months). The different data collected were put in Excel Sheet and analyzed using SPSS version 26. The formal written and verbal consent was taken from the participants and ethical clearance was taken from Institutional Review Committee (IRC), National Medical College, Birgunj (Ref. F-NMC/633/079-080).Results: A total of 107 subjects diagnosed with TBPE showed 67.3 % (n=72) male and 32.7% (n=35) female participants. Majority of the participants (88.8%) presented with fever, and approximately 59% of the participants had chest pain. Almost 65% of them had dyspnea and 77% presented with frank cough. Majority of the participants had right sided effusion. Pleural ,fluid examination showed increased total leukocyte count (mean 3191 cells/cu mm) and with lymphocytic predominance and increased protein content (5.07±0.91 g/dL). Pleural fluid Adenosine Deaminase (ADA)was found to be elevated (86.5±26.4 U/L).Conclusion: The common presentation of the Tuberculous pleural effusion is deranged laboratory parameters of pleural fluid with increased fluid total leukocyte count having lymphocytic predominance and increased protein content along with high ADA levels.
Quality of Work life of Nurses in a Government Hospital, Chitwan
Authors: Rai Aakriti , Lamichhane Shila , Chaudhary Tanuja Kumari , Brooks Beth A
Published: January 2024

Introduction: Work is an integral part of life where employees spend about one third of their entire life in workplace, thus working environment must be favorable. When the quality of work-life is stable, productivity is bound to increase. It seeks to benefit employees, their families, and the organization as well. The objective of the study is to identify the quality of work life of nurses working in Bharatpur hospital, Nepal.Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study design was used. The total number of 84 nurses from Bharatpur Hospital were purposively selected. Non-probability convenience sampling techniques was used to select a nurse working in Bharatpur Government hospital, Bharatpur, Chitwan having maximum of 6months job experience. Data were collected using standardized Brooks’ Quality of Nursing Work Life Survey tool. Data were analyzed using the statistical package of social science(SPSS) version 20.0. Inferential statistic was used to measure the association between quality of life of nurse and selected variables.Results: The study revealed that overall quality of work life were moderate (79.8%) of respondents. The findings on dimension wise quality of work life of nurses were 83.3%, 67.3% and 65.5% of respondents had moderate level of quality in work design, home life/ work life and work world dimension respectively, while 57.1% of respondents had high level of quality of work life of nurses in work context dimension. The Quality of Work Life of nurses was associated with level of education (χ2=11.027, p= 0.004).Conclusions: The majority of nurse had moderate level quality of work life. The authorities in the health care system should develop strategies for improving the nurses work conditions and their quality of work life so that, nurses will be able to perform quality care for their patients.
Functional Outcome of Locking Compression Plate in Distal Femur Fractures
Authors: Gupta Gaurav , Sah Rabins Kumar , Thakur Prashant , Ruhullaha M. , Thapa Subash
Published: January 2024

Introduction: Distal femur fracture is common in young people with high velocity injury. Management of distal femur fractures is a therapeutic challenge in orthopedics practice due to its extensive soft tissue injuries, bone loss, comminution, articular extension, instability.Open reduction with internal fixation replaces previous trend of closed conservative management  and external fixation. Distal femoral locking compression plate (DF-LCP) requires both locking and compression screw fixation of the femur shaft. DF-LCP has been rapidly adopted as an alternative to intramedullary nails, blade plates and non-locking condylar screw.Materials and Methods: Prospective interventional study was done in department of orthopedics at National Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Birgunj for one year among 45 patients of age more than 18 years with post traumatic closed or open GA Type I, II distal femur fractures, AO Muller type A and C fractures. Ethical approval was obtained from institutional review committee and proper informed consent was taken. Type of implant used was DF-LCP.NEER’S scoring system was used for functional outcome.Results: Out of 45 patients, 42 patients with distal femur fracture were treated by DF-LCP.Three patients lostduring follow up hence removed from study. Out of 42 patients, mean age of the patients was 36.62 years. Most of them 31, (73.8%) were male. Predominant fracture was on right side 29 (69%).The study finding showed that 30 (71.4%) sustained injury due to  road traffic accidents. Most of the patients 18 (42.9%) had type A2 fracture according to AO Muller distal femur fracture classification. Complications like surgical site infection observed in 3 cases. 100% union rate achieved with an average union time of 17.26 weeks. On evaluation according to Neer’s criteria mean score was 82.1 (Range: 48-96). Out of 42 patients 24 (57%) had excellent, 14 (33%) had good, 3 (7.2%) had fair and 1 (2.4%) had poor result.Conclusion: The study concluded DF-LCP is effective treatment for distal femur fracture. It provides stable construct for fracture union with excellent functional outcome.
Panhypopituitarism due to Sheehan’s Syndrome in a Patient with Recurrent Hyponatremia: Case Report from Nepal
Authors: Niroula Sudip , Shah Anil Kumar
Published: January 2024

Introduction: Panhypopituitarism, deficiency of all pituitary hormones (anterior pituitary hormones: adrenocorticotropic hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, growth hormone; posterior pituitary hormones: oxytocin, vasopressin). Sheehan’s syndrome also known as postpartum hypopituitarism is one of the causes of panhypopituitarism, which is characterized by hypopituitarism due to necrosis of pituitary gland secondary to massive postpartum hemorrhage. In this case, a 50 years female presented with the history of vomiting and loss of appetite since 2 years with severe hyponatremia, and decreased pituitary hormones levels in laboratory findings with significant obstetric history is diagnosed with Sheehan’s Syndrome.
First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Ways of Thinking in Combinatorics
Authors: Tatira Benjamin
Published: January 2024

The fundamental counting principle and counting problems, jointly called combinatorics in this study, commence in the last year of secondary school and proceeds in undergraduate studies and beyond. The South African secondary school situation reflect the same worldwide scenario where counting principles is regarded as difficult and poorly performed in the final national examinations. The purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate students’ mental constructions in solving counting problems against the backdrop of Grade 12 fundamental counting principles. The Action-Process-Object-Schema theory was used to describe undergraduate students’ thinking ways in combinatorics. A single case of a first-year class of 182 students was considered in this study, whereby they all wrote a task on combinatorics and a seven were further interviewed. The findings revealed that students were skilled at solving problems involving the counting principles, which was mainly step-by-step application of the formulae. This conception is at action level according to APOS theory, but the goal of teaching is to guide students to attain the object mental conception. Object conception allows for solving of diverse real-world counting problems and promotes mathematical thinking skills.
Mathematics Critical Thinking Ability of Elementary School Students Based On Cognitive Style and Self-Efficacy
Authors: Yustitia Via , Kusmaharti Dian
Published: January 2024

Learning mathematics does not only teach mathematical concepts, but requires students to encourage critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are also 21st century skills that enable students to think reflectively and reason in making decisions. Several factors influence critical thinking, including cognitive style and self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to analyze: (1) students' critical thinking skills with field dependent and field independent cognitive styles who have high self-efficacy. (2) students' critical thinking skills with field dependent and field independent cognitive styles have low self-efficacy. This research is a qualitative research using the phenomenological method in elementary schools throughout the Gayungan District. Subjects were selected from 14 elementary schools in Gayungan District. Through purposive sampling, students with a certain cognitive style and self-efficacy were selected. The method used in the form of questionnaires, tests, and interviews. The researcher as the main instrument, assisted by cognitive style and self-efficacy questionnaire instruments, critical thinking ability test questions, and interview guidelines. Data analysis used qualitative analysis and the validity of the data used the triangulation method.
Student’s Creative Thinking Process about Numeracy: A Case of Student’s Adversity Quotient (AQ)
Authors: Cahyati Vania Idelia , Siswono Tatag Yuli Eko , Wijayanti Pradnyo
Published: January 2024

The study aims to describe the creative thinking process of junior high school students with different Adversity Quotient (AQ) categories (quitter, camper, and climber) in solving numeracy problems. This qualitative research involves three subjects representing distinct AQ categories. Data collection includes the ARP questionnaire, numeracy problem-solving tests, and interviews, with analysis using the Pierce sign concept. Findings reveal camper and climber subjects effectively separate information in the ideation stage, while quitter and climber subjects associate knowledge concepts in generating idea. In preparing a plan for application, camper and climber subjects strategize based on information and knowledge, while in applying an idea, quitter subjects surrender, campers choose easier alternatives, and climbers persist with pre-planned strategies. Results suggest tailored motivation according to students' AQ categories can enhance teacher-student engagement.
Implementation of Mathematics Philosophy In Multicultural Education
Authors: Br Ginting Siti Salamah , Dewi Izwita
Published: January 2024

The aim of this research is to explore the implementation of mathematical philosophy in multicultural education. The research method used is the library research method, namely by conducting studies related to multicultural education, philosophy of mathematics, and the implementation of philosophy of mathematics in multicultural education. The research results showed that mathematical philosophy can be implemented in multicultural education, namely in the field of epistemological studies. In the field of epistemological studies, the philosophy of mathematics talks about the origins of the formation of mathematics and the study of knowledge about mathematics. The study of knowledge about mathematics cannot be separated from the characteristics of certainty, truth, objectivity, universalism and rationality. These characteristics can ultimately become the forerunner in the implementation of multicultural education. So as to create multicultural education that upholds justice, equality and unity.