Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Life101 Enhances Healthy Lifestyle Choices in Pre-Health Undergraduate Students

Stress levels in college students are increasing at an alarmingly fast pace. To combat this rising tide, universities need eDective tools to promote student well-being and help them to recognize and manage their stress. One approach is to teach students basic lifestyle skills to cope with stress and achieve wellness. Eis is important as it not only increases students’ retention within a chosen Feld of study, but assists them to achieve personal and academic success. To inspire our undergraduate students to adopt healthy lifestyle choices, a once-weekly course titled “Life101” was developed with topics that focused on students’ wellness such as stress management, emotional intelligence, Fnancial management, nutrition, and exercise. Classes were taught through a combination of lecture, multimedia videos, and discussions. Here, we share our observational Fndings outlining the potential beneFts (shortand long-term) for students participating in Life101. Based on preand post-course survey data from students, both in-class and online, Life101 had a signiFcant positive impact on the lifestyle of our students. Ee main outcomes from this study were: 1) both in-class and online courses resulted in positive lifestyle changes in our students; 2) online students showed greater mastery of course topics compared to their in-class peers; and 3) long-term beneFts from the course were reported aGer a one-year follow-up. Although, this collective positive impact may suggest that oDering Life101 to undergraduate students can serve to improve students’ mental and physical health, a prospective study is needed to conFrm these Fndings.
Capital structure determinants in growth firms accessing venture funding

This paper focuses on the capital structure determinants of venture capital backed firms prior to the venture capital investment event. The analyses are carried out on a matched sample of Spanish venture capital backed firms at the expansion stage and similar firms that did not receive venture funding. In the former, the results show that the structure of assets, size and growth opportunities have a positive impact on the debt ratio. Conversely, only profitability is negatively related to the leverage ratio in non venture capital backed firms. Overall, there is stronger evidence on the Pecking Order Theory for venture capital backed firms.
Preparedness for and perception of IFRS for SMEs: evidence from Turkey

The International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs) is adopted by Turkey in November 2010. Turkey initially decided to apply IFRS for SMEs starting from 2013, but recently postponed application to 2014. This research has two primary purposes. The first is to analyse the awareness, information level, preparedness, and perception of the accounting professionals regarding IFRS for SMEs. The second is to examine the effect of several factors such as experience, education level, and preparedness of the accounting professionals on their perception of the IFRS for SMEs. For those purposes, a telephone questionnaire is administered to accounting professionals. The findings of the study show that most of the accounting professionals are aware of IFRS for SMEs adoption process; have a moderate information level of IFRS for SMEs; are optimistic regarding the adoption process; and attended trainings about IFRS for SMEs. Although the majority of the accounting professionals made some preparation for the IFRS for SMEs, there still is a considerable number of participants who did not. Respondents list as the advantages of IFRS for SMEs as comparability, reliability, transparency and understandability of financial statements and effective financial reporting. On the other hand, lack of training and costs are seen as the main obstacles to the IFRS for SMEs implementation. This study has some implications for several parties, including national and international standard authorities, regulatory bodies, managers, professionals, and academicians. National and international standard authorities should take into consideration the preparedness and perceptions of the parties while organizing the adoption process in their countries. Accounting professionals should make necessary preparations and inform their customers (entities) as early as possible for a successful adoption process. This research will make a significant contribution to the existing literature because the number of studies analysing the IFRS for SMEs adoption is small, especially in emerging countries.
Large eddy simulations of CH 4 fire plumes

Large eddy simulations of large-scale CH4 fire plumes (1.59-2.61 MW) with two different CFD packages, FireFOAM and FDS, are presented. It is investigated how the vorticity generation mechanism and puffing behavior of largescale fire plumes differs from previously studied iso-thermal buoyant plumes of the same scale. In addition, the predictive capabilities of the turbulence and combustion models, currently used by the two CFD codes, to accurately capture the fire dynamics and the buoyancy-generated turbulence associated with large-scale fire plumes are evaluated. Results obtained with the two CFD codes, typically used for numerical simulations of fire safety applications, are also compared with respect to the average and rms velocities and temperatures, puffing frequencies, average flame heights and entrainment rates using experimental data and well-known correlations in literature. Furthermore, the importance of the applied reaction time scale model in combination with the Eddy Dissipation Model is examined. In particular, the influence of the considered mixing time scales in the predicted centerline temperatures is illustrated and used to explain the discrepancies between the two codes.
Magnetic and gaseous spiral arms in M83

Isotropic and anisotropic wavelet transforms are used to decompose the images of the spiral galaxy M83 in various tracers to quantify structures in a range of scales from 0.2 to 10 kpc. We used radio polarization observations at {\lambda}6 cm and 13 cm obtained with the VLA, Effelsberg and ATCA telescopes and APEX sub-mm observations at 870 {\mu}m, which are first published here, together with maps of the emission of warm dust, ionized gas, molecular gas, and atomic gas. The spatial power spectra are similar for the tracers of dust, gas, and total magnetic field, while the spectra of the ordered magnetic field are significantly different. The wavelet cross-correlation between all material tracers and total magnetic field is high, while the structures of the ordered magnetic field are poorly correlated with those of other tracers. -- The magnetic field configuration in M83 contains pronounced magnetic arms. Some of them are displaced from the corresponding material arms, while others overlap with the material arms. The magnetic field vectors at {\lambda}6 cm are aligned with the outer material arms, while significant deviations occur in the inner arms and in the bar region, possibly due to non-axisymmetric gas flows. Outside the bar region, the typical pitch angles of the material and magnetic spiral arms are very close to each other at about 10{\deg}. The typical pitch angle of the magnetic field vectors is about 20{\deg} larger than that of the material spiral arms. One of the main magnetic arms in M83 is displaced from the gaseous arms, while the other main arm overlaps a gaseous arm. We propose that a regular spiral magnetic field generated by a mean-field dynamo is compressed in material arms and partly aligned with them. The interaction of galactic dynamo action with a transient spiral pattern is a promising mechanism for producing such complicated spiral patterns as in M83.
Role of salicylic acid in decreases of membrane senescence in cut carnation flowers.

Cut flowers of carnation were treated with Salicylic acid (0,1.5, 3 mM) and sucrose (0, 3%). The effects of Salicylic acid on the ACC-oxidase activity, bacteria populations in vase flower preservative solution, anthocyanin leakage, Membrane stability, malondialdehyde and ACCoxidase activity of cut flowers of carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus L. cv.White) were investigated. The experimental results showed that SA treatment cause descrease MDA content and ACC-oxidase activity, reduced the membrane permeability and peroxidation of lipids.also, Results showed that The best treatment involved 1.5 mM SA+ sucrose 3% . The vase solution containing 1.5 mM Salicylic acid + sucrose 3% significantly descreased MDA content, ACCoxidase activity and bacteria populations in vase flower preservative solution and increased the vase life and membrane stability of carnation cut flower compared to the control. Results suggested that Salicylic acid increases membrane stability by descrease MDA content and ACC-oxidaseactivity, bacteria populations in vase flower preservative solution of the carnation cut flowers.
Analysis of October 23 (Mw 7.2) and November 9 (Mw 5.6), 2011 Van Earthquakes Using Long-Term GNSS Time Series

The eastern Anatolia provides one of the best examples of an area of rapid deformation and intense contraction that is the consequence of an active continental collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates leading to large and devastating earthquakes. The latest evidence of the active tectonism in the region is revealed by two remarkable seismic events; Van-Tabanli (Mw 7.2, October 23, 2011) and Van-Edremit (Mw 5.6, November 9, 2011) earthquakes. The study of the earthquake cycle and observation of geodetic and seismic deformation in this region is very important to hazard assessments. In this study, the inter-seismic, co-seismic, and post-seismic movements caused by the above-mentioned earthquakes were investigated using the time series of 2300 days of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) observations of the local stations selected from the network of the Continuously Operating Reference Stations, Turkey (CORS-TR). For the inter-seismic period, approximately 1100 daily data were obtained from 21 CORS-TR stations (prior to the earthquakes between October 1, 2008 and October 23, 2011) and evaluated using the GAMIT/GLOBK software. The behaviour of these stations was investigated by processing 1 Hz data from the GNSS stations during the earthquakes on the GAMIT/TRACK software. In addition to October 23 and November 9, the GNSS data on one day before and after the earthquakes was assessed to determine co-seismic deformations. During the October 23 earthquake, hanging-wall deformation of about 60 mm was detected in the SW direction at the MURA station. However, at the VAAN station, deformation of 200 mm (value predicted by time series) was observed in the footwall block in the NW direction. There were not any significant changes at the stations during the November 9 earthquake. For the post-seismic period, the GNSS data from 2012 to 2015 was evaluated. According to the observations, post-seismic deformation continued at the stations close to the epicenter of the earthquake.
INFORMATION QUALITY – A CHALLENGE FOR E-LEARNING 3 . 0

The transition from the “read” web to the “read/write” web (e-Learning 2.0), and also to the “read/write/collaborate” web, which is the e-learning 3.0 (Edutainment), the features of user-centric web, put the emphasis on the importance of quality information in e-learning systems. Many conceptual models to assess the information quality have been proposed: A Conceptual Framework for Data Quality CFDQ (Wang & Strong), Klein’s model, PSP/IQ model, etc. Starting from the Wang& Strong’s model, Alkhattabi, Neagu and Cullen proposed a Framework based on a Web-mining approach. Despite the importance of quality evaluation of the content in elearning systems, there is still work to be done in order to reach a consensus related to the methods and metrics for evaluation of quality information (IQ) and the evaluation standards to be used in e-learning 3.0 generation.
Organizational citizenship behavior in hospitality industry: Bridging challenges, benefits and contribution

In describing the behavior of employees, classified organizational citizenship behavior is applied and has been named as a "good member". In the working climate, the substance of building organizational citizenship behavior could not distinguish from the existing commitment within employees. The challenges and contribution of organizational citizenship behavior are to be a driving force in the foundation of effectiveness of hospitality industry. To throw an upright citizen in organizations, the industry should puzzle out if not the industry cannot live without paying an act as an “honest citizen”. A true contribution of employees should understand the organizational citizenship behavior while not everybody can express it. Supervisors in the hospitality industry will reward with high ratings if employees demonstrate high organizational citizenship behavior, but employees who are express low level of organizational citizenship behavior can justify that the particular industry need to direct the importance of extra-role behavior in organizations. Thusly, the criticism of this topic is to identify the problem and challenges confronted by employees in the hospitality industry. In this industry, organizational citizenship behavior is a key predictor in reducing all barriers to guarantee the effectiveness of the organization can be achieved. However, the rationale of this review paper to define the challenges and contributions that can earn by the hospitality management in improving the staff functioning, reducing turnover intention and increase the staff satisfaction.
A Single Molecule Study of Calcium Effect on Nuclear Transport

Weidong Yang, Advisor Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) embedded in the nuclear envelope (NE) is the sole pathway for direct communication between the cytoplasm and the nucleoplasm of eukaryotic cells. NPC allows unregulated passive diffusion of small molecules (< 20 kDa – 40kDa) and facilitated translocation of larger molecules (up to 500 MDa). More and more evidence suggests that calcium stored in the lumen of nuclear envelope and endoplasmic reticulum may further regulate nucleocytoplasmic transport. However with challenges in direct measurements of transport kinetics in the NPC, the calcium-regulated mechanism is still poorly understood. Here single-molecule fluorescence microscopy was used to characterize the nuclear pore permeability of passive diffusion and facilitated translocation under various calcium store concentrations. By snapshots of real-time transient movements of small molecules (10 kDa dextran) and large molecules (97 kDa protein -importin β1 (Imp β), through the NPCs, novel features under realtime trafficking conditions were observed that escaped detection by ensemble measurements. It was found that: i) transport rates cannot be used to reflect the change of nuclear pore permeability, which was mistakenly used in previous ensemble experiments; ii) transport rates for both passive diffusion and facilitated translocation can be significantly affected by the store calcium concentrations; and iii) nuclear pore permeability for passive diffusion is affected more by the amount of stored calcium than that for facilitated translocation.
The VLT-FLAMES survey of massive stars: surface chemical compositions of B-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds

We present an analysis of high-resolution FLAMES spectra of approximately 50 early B-type stars in three young clusters at different metallicities, NGC 6611 in the Galaxy, N 11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Using the tlusty non-LTE model atmospheres code, atmospheric parameters and photospheric abundances (C, N, O, Mg and Si) of each star have been determined. These results represent a significant improvement on the number of Magellanic Cloud B-type stars with detailed and homogeneous estimates of their atmospheric parameters and chemical compositions. The relationships between effective temperature and spectral type are discussed for all three metallicity regimes, with the effective temperature for a given spectral type increasing as one moves to a lower metallicity regime. Additionally the difficulties in estimating the microturbulent velocity and the anomalous values obtained, particularly in the lowest metallicity regime, are discussed. Our chemical composition estimates are compared with previous studies, both stellar and interstellar with, in general, encouraging agreement being found. Abundances in the Magellanic Clouds relative to the Galaxy are discussed and we also present our best estimates of the base-line chemical composition of the LMC and SMC as derived from B-type stars. Additionally we discuss the use of nitrogen as a probe of the evolutionary history of stars, investigating the roles of rotational mixing, mass-loss, blue loops and binarity on the observed nitrogen abundances and making comparisons with stellar evolutionary models where possible.
Security of pattern recognition systems in adversarial environments

Pattern recognition and machine learning techniques are also used in adversarial settings, like biometric authentication, network intrusion detection, and spam filtering, in which intelligent and adaptive adversaries may manipulate data to undermine their operation. This behaviour raises three main open problems: (i) understanding potential vulnerabilities of pattern recognition techniques; (ii) evaluating their security, namely, the performance degradation under the corresponding attacks; and (iii) developing pattern recognition systems robust to attacks. In this work we summarize our contributions to the field, in particular, to the security evaluation of classifiers in adversarial settings. We shortly discuss the main aspects of a framework which we have recently proposed to address this issue, and present three examples in the above mentioned applications. Further, we briefly discuss our experimental findings related to the security of multimodal biometric systems, where fake biometric traits can be used to mislead user verification. These results were obtained in the context of the FP 7 European Project “Tabula Rasa”, in which our research group is involved.
Influence of a weak superposed centripetal flow in a rotor-stator system for several pre-swirl ratios

The present study is devoted to the influence of a superposed radial inflow in a rotor-stator cavity with a peripheral opening. The flow regime is turbulent, the two boundary layers being separated by a core region. An original theoretical solution is obtained for the core region, explaining the reason why a weak radial inflow has no major influence near the periphery of the cavity but strongly affects the flow behavior near the axis. The validity of the theory is tested with the help of a new set of experimental data including the radial and tangential mean velocity components, as well as three components of the Reynolds stress tensor measured by hot-wire anemometry. The theoretical results are also in good agreement with numerical results obtained with the Fluent code and experimental data from the literature.
Existential and Virtuous Effects of Religiosity on Mental Health and Aggressiveness among Offenders

Although prior research tends to show that religion has a salutary effect on mental health and a preventive effect on crime, studies explaining the religious effect, particularly those on offenders, have been limited. To address the issue, we examine whether religiosity is inversely related to negative emotions and aggressiveness among prison inmates. Additionally, we assess whether the relationships are attributable to an inmate’s sense of meaning and purpose in life and/or their virtues. Specifically, we hypothesize that religiosity is inversely related to feelings of depression and anxiety and the intention of engaging in interpersonal aggression. We also hypothesize these relationships to be mediated by existential belief in life’s meaning and purpose and virtues (compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, purpose of God, and gratitude to God). We tested our hypotheses using survey data collected from a random sample of male inmates from three prisons in Texas, applying latent-variable structural equation modeling. We found that the existential belief explained the effect of religiosity on negative emotional states and intended aggression. In addition, forgiveness and gratitude mediated the effect on state anxiety, whereas purpose in God and gratitude to God mediated the effect on state depression. Substantive and practical implications of our findings are discussed.
Fluctuations of the competition interface in presence of shocks

We consider last passage percolation (LPP) models with exponentially distributed random variables, which are linked to the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP). The competition interface for LPP was introduced and studied by Ferrari and Pimentel in [Ann. Probab. 33 (2005), 1235-1254] for cases where the corresponding exclusion process had a rarefaction fan. Here we consider situations with a shock and determine the law of the fluctuations of the competition interface around its deterministic law of large number position. We also study the multipoint distribution of the LPP around the shock, extending our one-point result of [Probab. Theory Relat. Fields 61 (2015), 61-109].
Cosmic homogeneity: a spectroscopic and model-independent measurement

Cosmology relies on the Cosmological Principle, i.e. the hypothesis that the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. This implies in particular that the counts of galaxies should approach a homogeneous scaling with volume at sufficiently large scales. Testing homogeneity is crucial to obtain a correct interpretation of the physical assumptions underlying the current cosmic acceleration and structure formation of the Universe. In this letter, we use the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey to make the first spectroscopic and model-independent measurements of the angular homogeneity scale θ_h. Applying four statistical estimators, we show that the angular distribution of galaxies in the range 0.46 < z < 0.62 is consistent with homogeneity at large scales, and that θ_h varies with redshift, indicating a smoother Universe in the past. These results are in agreement with the foundations of the standard cosmological paradigm.
Measuring Convergence Using Dynamic Equilibrium Models: Evidence from Chinese Provinces

We propose a model to study economic convergence in the tradition of neoclassical growth theory. We employ a novel stochastic set-up of the Solow (1956) model with shocks to both capital and labor. Our novel approach identifies the speed of convergence directly from estimating the parameters which determine equilibrium dynamics. The inference on the structural parameters is done using a maximum-likelihood approach. We estimate our model using growth and population data for China’s provinces from 1978 to 2010. We report heterogeneity in the speed of convergence both across provinces and time. The Eastern provinces show a higher tendency of convergence, while there is no evidence of convergence for the Central and Western provinces. We find empirical evidence that the speed of convergence decreases over time for most provinces.