bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of Ribavirin on Thickness of Testicular Capsule in Albino Rats
Authors: Batool Alvia , Fatima Maryam , Farzana Fozia 
Published: July 2021

<p><strong>Background and Objective:</strong> Ribavirin (RBV), due to its mutagenic property, exerts cytotoxic effects on the testicular seminiferous tubules and its interstitium in various experimental animals. However, no study was done on the morphology of testicular capsule. Therefore, the present experimental study is designed to observe the transient effects of RBV in different doses on the testicular capsule thickness in albino rats.<br /><strong>Methods:</strong> A total of 72 sexually mature adult male albino rats were divided into four groups: A (control) and, B, C, D where RBV was administered intraperitoneally for 5 days in different doses (20, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight, respectively). Group received distilled water intraperitoneally. Each group was further divided into three subgroups according to three sacrificial time points that were 20th, 40th, and 60th day from the last exposure to drug. Randomly selected rats from each group were sacrificed on every time point. Histological slides were prepared and changes were observed microscopically.<br /><strong>Results: </strong>On 20th sacrificial day, the increase in the thickness of capsules was seen in all groups with subcapsular edema in comparison to control group (p &lt; 0.001). After discontinuation of drug, histological evidence of recovery in the form of decrease in the thickness of capsule with decrease in subcapsular edema were observed in low dose groups on 40th and 60th sacrificial days as compared to high dose groups which showed late recovery on both time points (p &lt; 0.001).<br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> The testicular capsular thickening induced by RBV is reversible after cessation of treatment.</p>
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Better representation of dust can improve climate models with too weak an African monsoon
Authors: Balkanski Yves , Bonnet Rémy , Boucher Olivier , Checa-Garcia Ramiro , Servonnat Jérôme 
Published: July 2021

Abstract. The amount of short wave radiation absorbed by dust has remained
uncertain. We have developed a more accurate representation of dust
absorption that is based on the observed dust mineralogical composition and
accounts for very large particles. We analyze the results from two
fully coupled climate simulations of 100 years in terms of their simulated
precipitation patterns against observations. A striking benefit of the new
dust optical and physical properties is that tropical precipitation over the Sahel, tropical North Atlantic and West Indian Ocean are significantly
improved compared to observations, without degrading precipitations
elsewhere. This alleviates a common persistent bias in Earth system models
that exhibit a summer African monsoon that does not reach far enough north.
We show that the improvements documented here for the IPSL-CM61 climate model result from both a thermodynamical and dynamical response to dust
absorption, which is unrelated to natural variability. Aerosol absorption
induces more water vapor advection from the ocean to the Sahel region,
thereby providing an added supply of moisture available for precipitation.
This work, thus, provides a path towards improving precipitation patterns in these regions by accounting for both physical and optical properties of the aerosol more realistically.
Evaluation of wind speed estimates in reanalyses for wind energy applications
Authors: Brune Sebastian , Keller Jan D. , Wahl Sabrina 
Published: July 2021

Abstract. A correct spatio-temporal representation of retrospective wind speed estimates is of large interest for the wind energy sector. In this respect, reanalyses provide an invaluable source of information. However, the quality of the various reanalysis estimates for wind speed are difficult to assess. Therefore, this study compares wind measurements at hub heights from 14 locations in Central Europe with two global (ERA5, MERRA-2) and one regional reanalysis (COSMO-REA6). Employing metrics such as bias, RMSE and correlation, we evaluate the performance of the reanalyses with respect to (a) the local surface characteristics (offshore, flat onshore, hilly onshore), (b) various height levels (60 to 200 m) and (c) the diurnal cycle. As expected, we find that the reanalyses show the smallest errors to observations at offshore sites. Over land, MERRA-2 generally overestimates wind speeds, while COSMO-REA6 and ERA5 represent the average wind speed more realistically. At sites with flat terrain, ERA5 correlates better with observations than COSMO-REA6. In contrast, COSMO-REA6 performs slightly better over hilly terrain, which can be explained by the higher horizontal resolution. In terms of diurnal variation, ERA5 outperforms both other reanalyses. While the overestimation of MERRA-2 is consistent throughout the day, COSMO-REA6 significantly underestimates wind speed at night over flat and hilly terrain due to a misrepresentation of nightly low level jets and mountain and valley breezes. Regarding the representation of downtime of wind turbines due to low/high wind speeds, we find that MERRA-2 is consistently underperforming with respect to the other reanalyses. Here COSMO-REA6 performs better over the ocean, while ERA5 shows the best results over land.
La source et l’objet
Authors: Baudelot Christian 
Published: July 2021

Les sociologues utilisant les statistiques et les statisticiens produisant de plus en plus souvent des données sociologiques, il est tentant, dans la chaleur d’un colloque interdisciplinaire, de déclarer abolie la frontière entre les deux disciplines et de célébrer la naissance d’une supra-discipline, la socio-statistique (ou la stati-sociologie, au choix). Nous voudrions montrer que, s’il leur arrive de se rencontrer et de coopérer, les deux disciplines ne risquent en aucune façon de converger et encore moins de se confondre, tant diffèrent les conditions de leur exercice, aussi bien que le type de rationalité qui les caractérisent. Statisticiens de l’Insee et sociologues ont pourtant affaire à la même réalité : la réalité sociale. Il leur arrive même, pour étudier certains phénomènes, de recourir aux mêmes méthodes d’observation, par exemple l’analyse longitudinale. Il est intéressant, dans ces conditions, d’examiner la façon dont les uns et les autres s’y sont pris pour constituer et exploiter leurs panels respectifs. Afin de raisonner sur des données comparables, on se limitera à des panels ayant trait aux revenus et aux profils de gain au cours de la vie active.
Ce que dit un tableau et ce qu’on en dit
Authors: Passeron Jean-Claude 
Published: July 2021

La distance évidente qui sépare la catégorisation statistique de la conceptualisation sociologique est souvent traitée par les sociologues comme une distance hiérarchique qui séparerait une approximation opératoire et formelle de la saisie signifiante et substantielle des phénomènes, geste suprême réservé à la sociologie. Le contenu corporatiste d’un tel programme ne devrait pas dissimuler aux sociologues son risque essentiel, celui de pratiquer l’auto-suffisance théorique d’une sociologie qui n’aurait de comptes à rendre qu’aux constats qui la confortent et qui se réserverait de porter au passif des imperfections mécaniques de l’instrument statistique ce que celui-ci ne vérifie pas des constructions conceptuelles du discours sociologique. À la limite, la signification du raisonnement statistique ne pourrait lui advenir que de l’extérieur : ce serait toujours à lui de s’amender pour mériter de servir par ses « constats illustratifs » des énoncés sociologiques qui tirent d’ailleurs leur « évidence ». De leur côté, les statisticiens ne sont évidemment pas en reste en matière d’épistémologie corporative. Accoutumés aux exigences du recueil et du traitement de l’information et sachant ce qu’il en coûte d’arriver à homogénéiser les données économiques et sociales, ils sont inévitablement enclins, pour préserver l’univocité des énonciations portant sur des constats de recensement ou de corrélation si chèrement acquis, à une défiance généralisée envers tout changement du langage d’énonciation des constats de base, autrement dit à marquer une réticence de principe envers l’interprétation conceptuelle, toujours suspecte de surinterprétation polysémique. À la limite, les « langues artificielles », comme la langue tabulaire du tableau croisé ou la langue graphique des plans factoriels, seraient les seules à ne pas déformer les énoncés d’observation et de traitement, dont l’expression en « langue naturelle » majorerait toujours le sens de manière incontrôlée et incontrôlable. Il y a pourtant un accord latent entre ces deux épistémologies coutumières lorsqu’elles atteignent leur forme limite : elles semblent bien convenir que le discours statistique et le discours sociologique diffèrent intrinsèquement par leur nature assertorique. On part ici, tout au contraire, du postulat épistémologique que toutes les conceptualisations opérées à partir de l’observation du monde historique possèdent, en tant qu’abstractions scientifiques, une pertinence empirique commune ou, si l’on veut, que les énonciations des différentes sciences sociales ne peuvent avoir qu’une seule indexation de vérité : l’observation historique par quelque méthode qu’on l’opère, même si elles diffèrent par la logique des raisonnements qui mettent en œuvre les constats issus de cette observation.
La citation comme technique de persuasion et comme preuve
Authors: Bizeul Daniel 
Published: July 2021

La citation de matériel documentaire, composé d’entretiens, de notes d’observation, de documents privés ou publics, est une chose banale, presque routinière, en sociologie. La banalité du procédé n’implique pas cependant qu’y avoir recours soit exempt d’intentions précises de la part des chercheurs, ni qu’il soit sans conséquences sur la perception d’un texte par ses lecteurs. Peu d’écrits pourtant s’attachent de façon précise, exemples concrets à l’appui, aux enjeux épistémologiques de la citation et à ses aspects pratiques. Chacun fait au mieux, et plus ou moins à sa convenance. Ici les citations apparaissent sous forme de blocs en retrait et en corps réduit, là elles se fondent dans la continuité du texte maître. Ici le matériel documentaire semble en entier, et inaltéré, là il est décomposé et réécrit. Chacun du moins revendique au même titre la solidité de ses analyses, dont le matériel documentaire est à la fois la source et le garant. Des chercheurs énoncent que les citations ont peu de valeur probatoire, toutefois, si bien que nos efforts pour aboutir à une version des choses établie sur des preuves, comme telle ouverte au débat contradictoire, seraient vains. Qu’en est-il vraiment ? Autrement dit, pourquoi citer, ainsi que nous sommes accoutumés à le faire ? Et existe-t-il, malgré tout, des principes utiles ? Telles sont les questions ici abordées, par retour de l’auteur sur la façon dont il a procédé dans Avec ceux du FN et dans Martial, et par référence aux nombreux chercheurs qui ont tenté, depuis près d’un siècle, d’apporter des réponses à ces questions qui sont l’ordinaire de notre travail.
Players, interests and public policies in relation to tourist rental housing in Spain (2010-2019). Complexity and multiple conflicts
Authors: Comendador-Sánchez Auxiliadora , Santos-Pavón Enrique , Hernández-Ramírez Javier 
Published: July 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the general scenario resulting from the emergence and expansion of tourist rental housing in Spain during the period 2010-2019.
Design/methodology/approach: The approach adopted is qualitative and focusses on identifying the range of players involved in the phenomenon and their varying interests; it also analyses the differing roles played by public authorities through the adoption of regulatory tools and the responses to these.
Results: This paper shows the existence of a diversity of positions among the various players involved in the phenomenon, as well as divergent responses from public authorities to their demands. This reveals the existence of a complex, heterogeneous scenario characterized by tension between the players; a situation that has not been satisfactorily resolved by the regulatory tools adopted, inthe light of the conflicts observed.
Originality/significance: The main significance of the work lies in its contribution to the general understanding of the phenomenon of dwellings for tourist use in Spain from a broad, nationwideperspective, which seeks to correct the usual local and partial approaches.
Limitations of the research: The timescale of the study, the decade 2010-2019, delimits the theoretical framework, the analyses carried out and the conclusions obtained to this period.
Nexus of Terrorism and Tourism: Empirical evidence from South Asian Countries
Authors: Kumail Tafazal , Ali Wajahat , Sadiq Farah , Khan Asif 
Published: July 2021

Purpose: To investigate the deleterious role ofterrorism towards tourism, this study analyzed time series data over the period 1980-2016 for South Asian countries including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) model to investigate the short and long-run estimates simultaneously. The study further applied Granger causality to find out the direction of causalities.
Findings: Utilizing the ARDL model, the result indicates that there is strong negative short and long-run relationship between terrorism and tourism in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The unidirectional causalities from terrorism, per capita GDP, and terrorism intensity towards tourist's receipts have their implication for the country in terms oftourism development.
Research limitations/implications: The fact that the number of reviews has been used as a proxy is a limitation and adds a provisional character to our results and encourages the replication of our analysis with data on the effective occupation of the accommodation, to which we did not have access to in our case. Similarly, if possible, other smaller Latin American cities could bestudied.
Research implications: In the perspective of policy implementation, the govemment of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh must take quick actions to control terrorism since it is destructive to the tourism industry as well as in light of its negative effect on economic development of a country. Moreover, the govemment should expand the business and employment opportunities notjust in light of the fact that unemployment is harmful to economic growth yet additionally to spare the economy from terrorism as unemployed people can easily become the puppets of terrorist groups by paying them and to feed their families.
Originality/value: This study utilized time series data over a period 1980-2016 for South Asian countries (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) to investigate the deleterious role ofterrorism towards tourism.
Optimization of Conditions for Xylanase Production Using Aspergillus tubingensis Under Different Carbon Sources
Authors: Kolade Isiaka , Ajijolakewu Kamoldeen 
Published: July 2021

Xylanases are hydrolytic enzymes with wide range of applications in food processing, bleaching of pulp in paper manufacturing industry, bio-conversion of biomass wastes to fermentable sugars and enhancing nutrient digestibility in animal feeds. The optimization of growth conditions and evaluation of an appropriate substrate as carbon source among cassava peels, corn cobs, wheat bran and rice husk on xylanase production by novel strain of Aspergillus tubingensis under Solid State Fermentation (SSF) was investigated. The fungal isolate was identified based on ribosomal RNA gene and ITS gene sequencing analysis as Aspergillus tubingensis. Results showed that Corn cobs had the highest xylanase production among the four substrates. Corn cobs recorded the highest value of xylanase production at pH of 6.0 (107.97 U/g), after incubation period of 72 hour (111.23 U/g), at temperature of 30oC (44.26 U/g) and at ratio 1:3 (45.68 U/g). The optimum growth conditions for xylanase production by Aspergillus tubingensis were: pH 6.0, incubation period of 72 hours, temperature of 30oC and substrate concentration of 1:3 (4g of substrate per 12ml of fermentation medium). Corn cobs showed the highest yield of xylanase activity (111.23±0.31 U/g), followed by Rice husk (101.91±0.72 U/g), Wheat bran (89.30±1.16 U/g) and Cassava peel (87.03±0.57 U/g). In conclusion, among the various agro residues that were used as carbon sources, Corn cobs had maximum xylanase activity. Various culture conditions were optimized by using one factor at a time method and the maximum xylanase production was obtained at pH of 6.0, incubation period of 72 hour, temperature of 30oC and substrate concentration of 1:3 under solid state fermentation. It is therefore suggested that some other notable environmental and fermentation factors that influence metabolism-mediated production yields of xylanase like aeration, agitation, carbon and nitrogen sources, metal ion requirement, inoculum size etc. should be optimized for maximum production of enzyme.

Keywords: Solid State Fermentation, Cassava peels, Corn cobs, Wheat bran, Rice husk
Purification of Wickerhamomyces anomalus Keratinase and Its Prospective Application in Poultry Feed Industries
Authors: Aina Ayandiran , Ezeamagu C. O , Akindele S. T. , Aleshinloye A. O. 
Published: July 2021

Animal wastes emanating from cow horns, hooves and feathers are keratinous in nature which can only be degraded by keratinolytic microorganisms. Consequently, the pollution resulting from the accumulation of these wastes in response to growing livestock demand is posing a significant threat to human health and the environment. This study was carried out using cow hooves as the substrate for the production of keratinase from fungal identified as Wickerhamomyces anomalus 9 (18S rDNA gene sequencing) was isolated from soil rich hooves using basal salt agar medium and potato dextrose agar. The keratinase of the isolate was assessed using skim milk agar and the enzyme was produced by solid-state fermentation. The crude enzyme was purified using ammonium sulphate precipitation, ion exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. The specific activity of the enzyme was 0.29 U/mg with a yield of 45% and a 7.25 purification fold. The optimal pH and temperature of the enzyme were 8.0 and 60 oC respectively. The enzyme was observed to be thermo-stable at 50oC between for 30 minutes. The kinetics revealed that the Vmax was 0.384U/min with Km 86.95mg/ml. The native molecular weight of the enzyme was found to be 34KDa. There were significant differences at 95% confidence with poultry feed treated with Wickerhamomyces anomalus keratinase in moisture, ash content, crude fibre, crude fat, nitrogen content, crude protein and carbohydrate compare to the untreated feed. These results suggest an environment-friendly approach for biodegradation of cow hooves wastes for the production of keratinases, animal waste management as well as a promising tool for chicken feed additives.
Keywords: Biodegradation, Chromatography, Cow hooves, Keratinase, Pollution
Game-Based Learning for Effective Teaching of Computer Studies in Secondary Schools
Authors: Shittu Abduljaleel Kehinde 
Published: July 2021

Game-based learning among Nigerian secondary schools is not common. In foreign countries where game-based learning is widely used, it is often believed that it could be more distracting and may not align with learning goals. Considering this stance, it is imperative to investigate among teachers and students if this approach would be effective for teaching computer studies before it could be recommended for implementation. Thus, the need for this study which investigated students and teachersâ€™ perception on game-based learning for effective teaching of computer studies in secondary schools, Ilorin. Specifically, the study investigated secondary school teachers and studentsâ€™ awareness of game-based learning, their attitude to game-based learning and their readiness toward game-based learning for effective teaching. It also examined the respondentsâ€™ perception toward the usefulness of game-based learning for effective teaching. The researcher demonstrated the use of game-based learning with the teaching of Network Routing by playing the orange game as found on CSunplugged. This is to ensure that both teachers and students understand the concept of game-based learning before attempting the survey. This study adopted a descriptive research using a survey method. A purposive sampling of one hundred and twenty-five (125) students and twenty-five (25) teachers were used on the target population of schools in Ilorin South local government, Kwara state, Nigeria. Percentage (%) statistical method and standard deviation were used to analyze the data obtained. The findings implied that teachers should be encouraged to use student-centered approach in their teaching for effective learning. It was recommended among others that secondary school teachers should make use of game-based learning since they are all aware and ready to use it for their teaching of computer studies.

Keywords: Game-based learning, Educational games, Computer games, Computer studies
Degradation of Cocaine and Benzoylecgonine in Sewage Sludge Batch Tests
Authors: Mustapha Aliru Olajide 
Published: July 2021

The degradation studies of cocaine and its principal metabolites, benzoylecgonine, as emerging pollutants were carried out using various sludge types collected from the RAF Molesworth Sewage Treatment Work (STW) to determine their distribution and persistence in aquatic environment. The methodology, initially characterized the various sludge types before the laboratory batch tests were carried out at different temperatures and times. The results, after 3 hours equilibration of batch samples, showed the removal rates for cocaine and benzoylecgonine to be 91.0% and 90.6%, respectively. The partition coefficients (Kd) for the two substances ranged from 2.7 â€“ 31.9 Kg L-1. Degradation of compounds was found to be both biotic and abiotic and the two processes produced many short chain compounds and several metabolites that include cocaethylene and ecgonine methylester. Also at 4 Â± 0.5o C, the degradation of substances occurred slowly, at 5 and 10% but was relatively greater at 19 Â± 0.5o C. Compounds degradation was also influenced by both extracellular and intracellular enzyme activities. The batch study is an innovative method in calculating degradation rates of compounds from sewage treatment works. The capabilities of generating removal rates of drugs have also been clearly demonstrated in this work and can be applied to any organic compounds in real life (STWs) situations