bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Factors affecting student behavioural engagement in an inquiry-based online learning environment
Authors: Mamun Md Abdullah Al , Lawrie Gwen 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
The technological innovations and changing learning environments are influencing student engagement more than ever before. These changing learning environments are affecting the constructs of student behavioural engagement in the online environment and require scrutiny to determine how to facilitate better student learning outcomes. Specifically, the recent literature is lacking in providing insights into how students engage and interact with online content in the self-regulated environment, considering the absence of direct teacher support. This paper investigates how instructional design, informed by the factors relating to behavioural engagement, can influence the student-content interaction process within the fabric of inquiry-based learning activities. Two online learning modules on introductory science topics were developed to facilitate students’ independent study in an asynchronous online environment. The study revealed that students showed high commitment to engage and complete the tasks that required less manipulative, pro-active effort during the learning process. The findings also revealed that instructional guidance significantly improved the behavioural engagement for student groups with prior learning experience and technology skills. This study highlights several issues concerning student engagement in a self-directed online learning environment and offers possible suggestions for improvement. The findings might contribute to informing the practice of teachers and educators in developing online science modules applicable to inquiry-based learning.
CLeaR: An Adaptive Continual Learning Framework for Regression Tasks
Authors: He Yujiang , Sick Bernhard 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Catastrophic forgetting means that a trained neural network model gradually forgets the previously learned tasks when being retrained on new tasks. Overcoming the forgetting problem is a major problem in machine learning. Numerous continual learning algorithms are very successful in incremental learning of classification tasks, where new samples with their labels appear frequently. However, there is currently no research that addresses the catastrophic forgetting problem in regression tasks as far as we know. This problem has emerged as one of the primary constraints in some applications, such as renewable energy forecasts. This article clarifies problem-related definitions and proposes a new methodological framework that can forecast targets and update itself by means of continual learning. The framework consists of forecasting neural networks and buffers, which store newly collected data from a non-stationary data stream in an application. The changed probability distribution of the data stream, which the framework has identified, will be learned sequentially. The framework is called CLeaR (Continual Learning for Regression Tasks), where components can be flexibly customized for a specific application scenario. We design two sets of experiments to evaluate the CLeaR framework concerning fitting error (training), prediction error (test), and forgetting ratio. The first one is based on an artificial time series to explore how hyperparameters affect the CLeaR framework. The second one is designed with data collected from European wind farms to evaluate the CLeaR framework's performance in a real-world application. The experimental results demonstrate that the CLeaR framework can continually acquire knowledge in the data stream and improve the prediction accuracy. The article concludes with further research issues arising from requirements to extend the framework.
New Lead Free Halide Double Perovskite Materials: Potential Substitutes Towards Green Technology and Stable Optoelectronic Application
Authors: Nabi Muskan , Gupta Dinesh C. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Explorations of new stable lead free perovskites have currently achieved substantial interest in the field of photovoltaics and optoelectronics as it tries to overcome the instability issue and avoid toxicity related with the lead based perovskites. We herein not only comprehensively tried to explain the experimentally synthesized two inorganic halide double perovskite materials but exploring their broader structural stability and also provide us a guideline to better understand their possible potential applications. For this purpose we performed density functional theory to investigate the structural, electronic, optical, elastic and thermoelectric properties of these materials. The stability of these cubic materials is validated by optimizing the structure, from the tolerance factor, mechanical stability test. These materials are found to be small band gap semiconductors with outshining optoelectronic performance. Due to high optical absorption, high conductivity and low reflectivity they have great potential to be used as a light absorbing material for photovoltaic application. Because, of small band gap we also tried to explore the variation of various transport properties with chemical potential. The semiconducting nature of materials results in ZT close to unity predicting its excellent application in thermoelectric technology.
The Structural, Magnetic and Optical Properties of Ni-Mg-Zn Ferrite Prepared With Different Complexing Agents via Sol-Gel Method
Authors: Zhang Yanchun , Sun Aimin , Suonan Zhaxi 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Different complexing agents were used to prepare Ni-Mg-Zn ferrite with the composition formula Ni0.2Mg0.2Zn0.6Fe2O4 via sol-gel method, which included citric acid, oxalic acid, egg white and EDTA. The Ni0.2Mg0.2Zn0.6Fe2O4 ferrite with no complexing agent was also prepared as a comparison. The chemical phases of samples were analyzed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), which indicated that samples had spinel phase structure. The lattice constants of samples are in the range of 8.3980 ~ 8.4089 Å. The composition and structure were further studied by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). There were two typical characteristic bands related to the stretching vibrations of spinel ferrite in FTIR spectra. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs and transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed that the particles have the shape of spherical cube. Energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analyzed the elements and ingredients of samples, which included Ni, Mg, Zn, Fe and O. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to examine further the elemental composition and chemical state of sample prepared with EDTA as complexing agent. The optical properties of samples were investigated by photoluminescence spectra and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) was used to characterize magnetic properties, hysteresis loops revealed the ferrimagnetism behavior of prepared samples.
Clinical presentations, diagnostics, treatments and treatment costs of children and adults with febrile illness in a tertiary referral hospital in south-eastern Guinea: a retrospective longitudinal cohort study.
Authors: Raab Manuel , Pfadenhauer Lisa M. , Doumbouya Dansira , Froeschl Guenter 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Febrile illness is frequent among patients in the tropics. It is caused by a wide variety of common diseases such as malaria or gastrointestinal infections but also by less common but highly contagious pathogens with epidemic potential. This study describes the clinical features of adult and paediatric patients with febrile illness in in the largest tertiary referral hospital in south-eastern Guinea, a region at high risk for viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks. The study further compares their diagnostic characteristics, treatments and outcomes with non-febrile patients in order to contribute to the local epidemiology of febrile illness.
Methods
We used retrospective data collection to record demographic and clinical data of all incoming patients during a study period of three months.
For the follow-up study of inpatients,
we retrospectively reviewed patient charts for diagnostic
characteristics, diagnoses and outcomes.
Results
Of the 4317 patients admitted during the study period, 9.5% had a febrile illness. The majority of febrile adults (73.8%) and children (92.1%) were hospitalized after admission. By far, the most used diagnostic measures to identify causative agents in febrile patients were point-of-care tests. Treatments of febrile patients were mainly a combination of paracetamol and/or antibiotics. Most common discharge diagnoses for febrile inpatients were malaria (9.6% adults, 56.7% children), salmonella gastroenteritis/typhoid (10.6% adults, 7.8% children) and respiratory infection/pneumonia (5.3% adults, 18.7% children). Inpatient mortality for children was significantly higher in febrile than non-febrile children (18.5% vs. 5.1%, p < 0.001) and considerably higher in febrile than non-febrile adults (29.8% vs. 25.0%, p = 0.404).
Conclusions
The wide use of rapid diagnostic tests to identify causes of febrile illness highlights the low reliance on basic serological and advanced laboratory testing to research causative agents of febrile illness other than malaria or salmonella gastroenteritis/typhoid. This not only risks to over- or under-diagnose certain infectious diseases but also leaves the possibility of highly infectious diseases in febrile patients unexplored. Furthermore, healthcare facilities in south-eastern Guinea would benefit from antimicrobial stewardship due to their heavy reliance on antibiotics for treating febrile patients.
Comprehensive Characterization of the Coding and Non-coding Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Tumor Protein p63 (TP63) Gene Using In Silico Tools.
Authors: Akter Shamima , Hossain Shafaat , Hosen Md. Ismail , Shekhar Hossain Uddin 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) help to understand the phenotypic variations in humans. Numerous studies have examined the association of SNPs with various complex diseases. Researchers have identified the association of SNPs of genes through Genome-wide association study (GWAS). A number of GWAS have identified a loci located in the TP63 gene to be significantly associated with the risk of urinary bladder cancer. However, there is not any study characterizing the SNPs located at the TP63 gene for their functional and structural significance. Hence, the study aimed to comprehensively characterize SNPs in the human TP63 gene for their functional and structural significance. We investigated and evaluated the genomic variations affecting the expression, structure, and function of the TP63 protein. The study systematically retrieved nsSNPs information for the TP63 gene from the dbSNP database. We screened and analyzed both nsSNPs and non-coding SNPs in TP63 protein using a wide variety of computational tools to find the risk of pathogenicity. A total of 17 nsSNPs were identified using the 13 bioinformatics tools (i.e., SIFT, CADD, PROVEAN, PolyPhen2, PANTHER, PhD-SNP, SNP&GO, I-Mutant 2.0, ClinVar, Mutpred2, ConSurf, HOPE, and Mutation 3D) along with domain analysis. These pathogenic mutations cause a decrease in protein stability according to I-Mutant2.0. HOPE predicted 17 SNPs to have significant effect on TP63 protein structure and function. 12 nsSNPs were found in highly conserved position in TP63 inferring the damaging effect on the structure and function of the protein. Swiss PDB Viewer showed loss of hydrogen bonds and increased energy due to the SNPs. Molecular docking showed the reduction of the binding affinity of proteins for DNA and loss of hydrogen bonds. Six non-coding SNPs were found in miRNA binding sites in gene showing the effect on protein regulation using PolymiRTS and five non-coding SNPs were identified in single tissue expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) in lung tissue, heart tissue (LV), and cerebral hemisphere (Brain) according to GTEx portal. The characterization of nsSNPs and non-coding SNPs will support researchers to focus on TP63 gene loci and ascertain their association with certain diseases.
Quantification of economic and environmental benefits of faecal sludge derived compost and briquettes using a REVAMP tool: The case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Authors: Mkude Isabela Thomas , Kimwaga Richard , Gabrielsson Sara 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
In recent years, the concept of resource recovery from waste, particularly faecal sludge (FS) has gained much attention and popularity. The aim of this study is to quantify/estimate the economic and environmental benefits of nutrients and energy that could be recovered from FS. The empirical data come from three unplanned settlements of Dar es Salaam City; Keko, Kipawa and Manzese. Two different FS resource recovery scenarios were assessed, namely nutrients and energy. The resource value mapping (REVAMP) tool was used to quantify benefits of nutrients and energy/solid fuels recovered from FS. The results indicate a daily economic benefit from FS recovery, ranging between 680-950 USD for energy and up to 7,000 USD for nutrients recovered, depending on the composition. The co-composting of FS with organic waste to recover nutrients was found more profitable than FS derived briquettes. The environmental benefits, beyond the disposal of untreated FS into the local environment, include a potential saving of up to 5 hectares of forest area when substituting the use of wood charcoal with FS-derived briquettes for domestic cooking energy needs. Even here, co-composting FS is estimated to be more profitable than FS derived briquettes. The study concludes that to obtain FS derived briquettes with high calorific value, FS should be co-fuelled with other feedstock materials. Guidelines and standards for safe re-use of FS derived products should be developed, adapted and information campaigns and demonstration sites to illustrate the economic and environmental benefits of resource recovery from FS for energy and agricultural purposes should be made available to relevant stakeholders
Experimental Babesia Rossi Infection Induces Hemolytic, Metabolic, and Viral Response Pathways in the Canine Host
Authors: Smith Rachel L. , Goddard Amelia , Boddapati Arun , Brooks Steven , Schoeman Johan , Lack Justin , Leisewitz Andrew , Ackerman Hans 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background: Babesia rossi is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among the canine population of sub-Saharan Africa, but pathogenesis remains poorly understood. Previous studies of B. rossi infection were derived from clinical cases, in which neither the onset of infection nor the infectious inoculum was known. Here, we performed controlled B. rossi inoculations in canines and evaluated disease progression through clinical tests and whole blood transcriptomic profiling.Results: Three subjects were administered a low inoculum (104 parasites) while two received a high (109 parasites). Subjects were monitored for 8 consecutive days; anti-parasite treatment with diminazene aceturate was administered on day 4. Blood was drawn prior to inoculation as well as every experimental day for assessment of clinical parameters and transcriptomic profiles. The model recapitulated natural disease manifestations including anemia, acidosis, inflammation and behavioral changes. Rate of disease onset and clinical severity were proportional to the inoculum. To analyze the temporal dynamics of the transcriptomic host response, we sequenced mRNA extracted from whole blood drawn on days 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, and 8. Differential gene expression, hierarchical clustering, and pathway enrichment analyses identified genes and pathways involved in response to hemolysis, metabolic changes, and several arms of the immune response including innate immunity, adaptive immunity, and response to viral infection. Conclusions: This work comprehensively characterizies the clinical and transcriptomic progression of B. rossi infection in canines, thus establishing a large mammalian model of severe hemoprotozoal disease to facilitate the study of host-parasite biology and in which to test novel anti-disease therapeutics. The knowledge gained from the study of B. rossi in canines will not only improve our understanding of this emerging infectious disease threat in domestic dogs, but also provide insight into the pathobiology of human diseases caused by Babesia and Plasmodium species.
Complete genome sequence of a previously undescribed monopartite begomovirus and betasatellite infecting Malvastrum coromandelianum in Cambodia
Authors: Tang Yafei , Li Zhenggang , She Xiaoman , Yu Lin , Lan Guobing , Lv Lihua , Brown Judith K , He Zi-fu 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
A previously undescribed monopartite begomovirus was identified from Malvastrum coromandelianum plants exhibiting yellow vein symptoms characteristic of begomoviruses, in Kampot province, Cambodia. The apparently full-length viral component was cloned and sequenced following enrichment of circular DNA by rolling circle amplification and restriction enzyme digestion. The genome of the virus was 2,737 nucleotides in length (KP188831), and exhibited an organization like that of other monopartite begomoviruses, sharing the highest nt identities of 87.7% with Ageratum yellow vein virus (AM940137). A satellite molecule was amplified from total DNA by PCR amplification with the betasatellite-specific primer pair β01/β02. The satellite molecule (1,346 nt, KP188832) had a structure characteristic like other betasatellites associated with begomoviruses, and shared the highest nt identity of 84.8% with Malvastrum yellow vein betasatellite (MN205547). According to the criteria established for species demarcation for classification of begomoviruses ( Geminiviridae ) and betasatellites ( Tolecusatellitidae ), respectively, the virus isolate from M. coromandelianum in Cambodia is a previously undescribed novel monopartite begomovirus species，for which the name Malvastrum yellow vein Cambodia virus (MaYVCV) is proposed, whereas, the betasatellite is identified as an previously undescribed novel betasatellite species, for which the name Malvastrum yellow vein Cambodia batesatellite (MaYVKHB) is proposed.
Breakfast meal characteristics, reasons of skipping and perception among 8th and 9th grade students at governmental schools, Jenin governance, West Bank
Authors: Badrasawi Manal , Anabawi Ola , Al-Zain Yaqout 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
There is growing recognition of the important role of breakfast in children’s nutrition, and the potential harms related to skipping breakfast, including contributing to obesity and non-communicable diseases. The patterns associated with skipping breakfast may be related to the nutrition transition. This study aims to explore the prevalence of skipping breakfast among Palestinian schoolchildren, the sociodemographic and behavioural patterns associated with skipping breakfast, and the reasons and perceptions around it, in addition to the composition of breakfast consumed.
Methods
We undertook a cross-sectional online questionnaire of 12- to 14-year-old schoolchildren from 4 governmental schools in urban and rural areas of the Jenin district of Palestine, collecting information about children’s and parents’ characteristics and behaviours, breakfast patterns and composition, reasons for skipping breakfast, and perceptions around breakfast. Statistical analysis of the relevant factors was undertaken using SPSS software.
Results
In a sample of 193 schoolchildren, only 32% reported consuming breakfast all-year round. The main reasons reported for skipping breakfast were not feeling hungry, not having the time, and lack of appetite. The vast majority (79%) believed breakfast was beneficial for general health. Sleeping before 10pm, regular exercise, and shorter screen time were all associated with a higher level of breakfast consumption.
Conclusion
Understanding the reasons for missing breakfast, and the factors which make skipping it more likely, should inform public health strategies to promote breakfast consumption. For example, our findings suggest that awareness of the importance of breakfast was not a significant contributor to skipping breakfast, compared to other structural and cultural factors.
Management of chronic lung diseases in Sudan and Tanzania: how ready are the country health systems?
Authors: Egere Uzochukwu , Shayo Elizabeth , Ntinginya Nyanda , Osman Rashid , Noory Bandar , Mpagama Stella , Hussein El Hafiz , Tolhurst Rachel , Obasi Angela , Mortimer Kevin , Sony Asma El , Taegtmeyer Miriam 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
BackgroundChronic Lung Diseases (CLDs), responsible for 4 million deaths globally every year, are increasingly important in low- and middle-income countries where most of the global mortality due to CLDs currently occurs. As existing health systems in resource-poor contexts, especially sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), are not generally oriented to provide quality care for chronic diseases, a first step in re-imagining them is to critically consider readiness for service delivery across all aspects of the existing system. MethodsWe conducted a mixed-methods assessment of CLD service readiness in 18 purposively selected health facilities in two differing SSA health system contexts, Tanzania and Sudan. We used the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Service Availability and Readiness Assessment checklist, qualitative interviews of key health system stakeholders, health facility registers review and assessed clinicians’ capacity to manage CLD using patient vignettes. CLD service readiness was scored as a composite of availability of service-specific tracer items from the WHO service availability checklist in three domains: staff training and guidelines, diagnostics and equipment, and basic medicines. Qualitative data were analysed using the same domains.ResultsOne health facility in Tanzania and five in Sudan, attained a CLD readiness score of ≥50% for CLD care. Scores ranged from 14.9% in a dispensary to 53.3% in a health centre in Tanzania, and from 36.4% to 86.4% in Sudan. The least available tracer items across both countries were trained human resources and guidelines, and peak flow meters. Only two facilities had COPD guidelines. Patient vignette analysis revealed significant gaps in clinicians’ capacity to manage CLD. Key informants identified low prioritization as key barrier to CLD care. Conclusion: Gaps in service availability and readiness for CLD care in Tanzania and Sudan threaten attainment of universal health coverage in these settings. Detailed assessments by health systems researchers in discussion with stakeholders at all levels of the health system can identify critical blockages to reimagining CLD service provision with people-centred, integrated approaches at its heart.