Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STUDY OF PURCHASE INTENTION TOWARDS SKINCARE PRODUCTS BASED ON BRAND AWARENESSAND BRAND ASSOCIATION

The purpose of this study is to measure the relationship between brand associations and brand awareness towards customers purchase intentions on the skin care products. There are many type and categories of skin care products available in the markets. Most of the market leader was reputable brand from overseas which have been outstanding in market for more than 2 decades. This study is expected to provide information to local brand that is competing with the large and popular brands in producing their market share. This survey used self-administered questionnaires for data collections. 450 questionnaires were distributed to customers at 5 shopping malls in 3 major cities in Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used and data collected were analysed using structural equation model to perform the measurement model and structural model. The results indicate that both brand associations and brand awareness were equally significant towards influencing customers purchase intentions. Market players in the industry should focused more on the brand associations and brand awareness as both were found to be significant for the increase sales and revenue.
Association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and inflammatory periodontal disease: A case‑control study

Background: Recent evidence suggests an interconnection between chronic periodontal disease and systemic diseases. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the possible association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and inflammatory periodontal disease among north Indian population. Settings and Design: Tertiary health care center, cross-sectional case-control observational study. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 cases, i.e., patients with NAFLD and 40 healthy volunteers were included over a period of 8 months and their periodontal status was compared. The status of their hepatic health was ascertained by anthropometric, imaging, and biochemical evaluation including ultrasound examination of abdomen and transient elastography. Statistical Data Analysis: Paired t-test, multivariate logistic regression analysis using IBM SPSS STATISTICS (version 22.0, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp). Results: The study revealed that only 11.9% and 20% of participants had periodontitis, in healthy controls and hepatic disease patients, respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed in clinical parameters of periodontal status, except for malocclusion. Comparative analysis of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and cytokeratin-18 revealed differences in mean scores, though statistically nonsignificant. Only aspartate transaminase, number of missing teeth, and bleeding on probing (BOP) were observed with higher odds ratios for hepatic disease patients. Spearman correlation analysis revealed significant positive correlations between TNF-α and BOP, for cases. Conclusion: Patients with hepatic disease showed a higher prevalence of periodontal disease, worse oral hygiene and periodontal health status compared to healthy individuals.
SELF-PURIFICATION OF A LONG-STRETCHED GULLY AFFECTS THE RESTORATION OF AN ALPINE-TYPE LAKE IN NORTHERN GREECE

SUMMARY Vegoritis Lake in Macedonia, Greece, is part of an ex-tensive water complex of smaller lakes and streams with Pentavrisos gully discharging at the southern point of the lake and affecting considerably the lake’s nutrient cycles and biodiversity. During the last fifteen years, the lake has shown significant signs of degradation, such as disturbance of its aquifer bed, algal blooms, fish mass mortalities, and the transformation of its trophic status from an oligotrophic to a meso-trophic and, even, an eutrophic one. Such a trans-formation has an additional impact on terrestrial, avian and aquatic fauna, with alteration in species’ composition, and a considerable decline in local fisheries and tourism. This study focused on investigating the role that gully Pentavrisos has on the physicochemical water quality status of Lake Vegoritis. Most parameters inside the lake (nitrates 0.55-1.95 mg.l -1 , nitrites 0.008-0.031 mg.l -1 , ammonia 0.011-0.158 mg.l -1 ) indicate the existence of a natural purifica-tion process occurring between the sites of gully Pentavrisos, receiving the treated/untreated effluents, and the final re-cipient of those effluents, Lake Vegoritis. Suggested miti-gation measures for the restoration of the lake and the man-agement of the respective aquifer bed, mainly consist of rationalization of water consumption for irrigation purposes, recycling of industrial effluent water, establishment of depu-ration plants for the biological treatment of industrial and urban waste, appropriate planning and demarcation of land-use in the littoral areas of the lake, and qualitative upgrade of Pentavrisos gully.
Stem anatomy of Turbinicarpus s.l. (Cacteae, Cactaceae) and its contribution to systematics

Abstract The stem anatomy of Turbinicarpus s.l. was studied with the aims of finding characters to support the three clades (Rapicactus, Kadenicarpus, and Turbinicarpus) in which Turbinicarpus s.l. was recovered in the most recent phylogeny of the Cacteae tribe. Thirty-five taxa were prepared, and their tissues were compared. Substantial variation was found in the epidermal surface. The hypodermis has concentric druses (Rapicactus clade) or prismatic crystals (Kadenicarpus and Turbinicarpus clades) in the cell lumina. There are abundant collateral cortical bundles, but they are amphicribal in a few taxa, and xylary fibers occur in the Kadenicarpus clade. All members of Turbinicarpus s.l. have phloem without sclerenchyma and nonfibrous wood, except for T. subterraneus, which has wood with few fibers. The periderm has an epidermal origin, and the phellem may have thin-walled cells or alternating thin- to thick-walled layers. Our results support the three clades. The Kadenicarpus clade comprises the species with xylary fibers in cortical bundles, but it shares prismatic crystals in the hypodermis, thin-walled phellem cells and partially dilated rays with the Turbinicarpus clade. The members of the Rapicactus clade have concentric druses in the hypodermis. The anatomical features proved to be valuable to support the recognition of monophyletic clades.
Nitrogen and Phosphorus Resorption in Planted Forests Worldwide

Nutrient resorption from senescing leaves is one of the plants’ essential nutrient conservation strategies. Parameters associated with resorption are important nutrient-cycling constraints for accurate predictions of long-term primary productivity in forest ecosystems. However, we know little about the spatial patterns and drivers of leaf nutrient resorption in planted forests worldwide. By synthesizing results of 146 studies, we explored nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) resorption efficiency (NRE and PRE) among climate zones and tree functional types, as well as the factors that play dominant roles in nutrient resorption in plantations globally. Our results showed that the mean NRE and PRE were 58.98% ± 0.53% and 60.21% ± 0.77%, respectively. NRE significantly increased from tropical to boreal zones, while PRE did not significantly differ among climate zones, suggesting differential impacts of climates on NRE and PRE. Plant functional types exert a strong influence on nutrient resorption. Conifer trees had higher PRE than broadleaf trees, reflecting the adaptation of the coniferous trees to oligotrophic habitats. Deciduous trees had lower PRE than evergreen trees that are commonly planted in P-limited low latitudes and have long leaf longevity with high nutrient use efficiency. While non-N-fixing trees had higher NRE than N-fixing trees, the PRE of non-N-fixing trees was lower than that of N-fixing trees, indicating significant impact of the N-fixing ability on the resorption of N and P. Our multivariate regression analyses showed that variations in NRE were mainly regulated by climates (mean annual precipitation and latitude), while variations in PRE were dominantly controlled by green leaf nutrient concentrations (N and P). Our results, in general, suggest that the predicted global warming and changed precipitation regimes may profoundly affect N cycling in planted forests. In addition, green leaf nutrient concentrations may be good indicators for PRE in planted forests.
Exploitation of induced variation for enhancing the biomass production in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

A study was undertaken for screening the EMS induced mutants of N22 for identifying high biomass mutants. In a population of 10000 mutants, 280 mutants were selected phenotypically and forwarded in which dry matter production along with 18 other traits including days to fifty per cent flowering, plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of productive tillers per plant, efficient tillering percentage, flag leaf length, flag leaf width, panicle length, number of filled grains per panicle, number of chaffy grains per panicle, spikelet fertility, hundred grain weight, grain length, grain breadth, wet biomass, grain yield , harvest index and vein density were characterized, Physiological traits namely SPAD reading, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and Ci/Ca ratio were also recorded. A total of 58 per cent had higher grain yield than N22 while a total of 214 mutants recorded with high dry matter production than N22. In terms of physiological efficiency, genotypes with high vein density are associated with high biomass as in the case of any C4 plants. Wild type N22 has 50 minor veins and 8 major veins while 56 mutants possessed more than 50 minor veins and 10 major veins. Two mutants namely PL.No.36 and Pl.No.183 were found to be promising, which recorded high dry matter production with more number of minor veins, had high chlorophyll content and high photosynthetic rate.
Task Complexity Measurement Framework for Human Systems Integration

Task complexity is a measure of how demanding a task is and often identified with unanticipated interactions between a user and system. A novel application of the complexity measurement for human systems integration is presented and demonstrated through the complexity evaluation of a military communication system interface. A comprehensive task complexity measurement framework is presented which besides being easily implementable, evaluates system complexity from the perspectives of different sets of users and is applicable in different contexts. A set of standard task contexts are established for each context, then objective and subjective task complexities are measured for the particular context. The set of complexity measures can be used to assess the impact of changes in system design from the human performance perspective.
Soybean growth and yield responses at third planting season to residual potassium fertilizer in a vertisol

Application of fertilizers on previous crops can leave a residue so that it can be used for the next crops. It is necessary to know the extent to which these residues can affect the growth and yield of soybean crops. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of potassium fertilizer residues on growth and yield of soybean crops at third planting season (PS-III) on a vertisol. The research was conducted at dry season using a vertisol from Nganjuk, East Java. The experiment was designed using a factorial randomized block design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was the dose of potassium fertilizer (KCl) in the first planting season (PS-I) of rice, i.e. 0, 500, 1500, and 2000 kg potassium fertilizer/ha. The second factor was the dose of potassium fertilizer in the second planting season (PS-II) of soybean, i.e. 0, 50, 100, 200, and 400 kg potassium fertilizer (KCl)/ha. The soybean variety used was Sinabung. The results showed that fertilizer residues of planting season I and planting season II affected the growth component and yield component of soybean, but did not affect seed yield of soybean. There was no consistent increase on growth component, yield component, or seed yield of soybean with an increasing residual dose of potassium fertilizer of planting season I or planting season II. The residual treatment of 1500 kg potassium/ha at planting season I gave the highest number of branches per plant (2 branches) and seed weight per plant (3.13 g) of soybean. The residual treatment of 50 kg potassium/ha at planting season II gave the highest root nodule weight per plant of 0.10 g and the highest seed weight per plant of 3.33 g.
Strain-induced control of domain wall morphology in ultrathin PbTiO 3 films

Ab initio effective Hamiltonian simulations reveal a strain-induced control of domain morphology in epitaxial ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_{3}$ ultrathin films being under open-circuit electrical boundary conditions. More precisely, rather different out-of-plane domain structures are found to be the ground state, depending on the value of the misfit strain. Examples include domain walls lying in different crystallographic planes or even being wandering. Analysis of the computations allows us to reveal the precise interactions responsible for such strain-driven domain reorganization.
Determinants of Economic Growth in ECOWAS Countries: An Empirical Investigation

The Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) is a regional group consisting of 15 countries which was founded 1975 with the goal to promote economic trade, national cooperation, and the creation of a monetary union throughout West Africa. This paper empirically assesses the determinants of the economic development from 1996-2016 in ECOWAS using panel unit root tests, panel cointegration tests, and the estimation of the dynamic panel data regression via the Arellano–Bond estimator and Arellano–Bover and Blundell–Bond estimator. The empirical results show total factor productivity (TFP), law, and somewhat corruption are indicative of economic growth under the Arellano–Bond estimator. Under the Arellano–Bover and Blundell–Bond estimator, the results revealed that inflation, gross domestic saving (GDS), and TFP have a significant impact on economic growth in the ECOWAS. From these empirical results, improving economic growth in ECOWAS countries improves the quality of life of people and the government of each ECOWAS country become cognizant of the benefits in the implementation of pro-growth policies. The policy implication is that the governments of the ECOWAS countries should give policy priority to promote pro-growth economic policies and enhance institutions to enable economic growth.
Electrophysiological correlates of state transition prediction errors

Planning behavior depends crucially on the ability to distinguish between the likely and unlikely consequences of an action. Formal computational models of planning postulate the existence of a neural mechanism that tracks the transition model of the environment, i.e., a model that explicitly represents the probabilities of action consequences. However, empirical findings relating to such a mechanism are scarce. Here we report the results of two electroencephalographic experiments examining the neural correlates of transition model learning. The results implicate fronto-midline theta and delta oscillations in this process and suggest a role of the anterior midcingulate cortex in planning behavior.
Location-Privacy-Preserving Technique for 5G mmWave Devices

In fifth generation (5G) cellular networks, a single base station equipped with multiple antennas can determine the user position within centimeters, by processing the wireless millimeter-wave channel estimate. A fake base station serving a victim user can also obtain the user location. In order to protect the user privacy, we propose a technique to prevent localization. We design a user transmit beamformer, so that the angles of departure of each channel path are hidden to the base station, thus preventing localization. We also optimize the allocated power, in order to maximize the achievable rate. The proposed solution is compared with both the capacity-achieving beamforming (without location privacy) and the zero-forcing beamforming, which still provides location privacy, at the cost of a lower rate.
Prevalence of CYP2C19, CYP3A4 and FMO3 genetic polymorphisms in healthy northeastern Thai volunteers

: Voriconazole is the ﬁrst-line drug for invasive aspergillosis infection treatment. It is metabolized via cytochrome P450 2C19 ( CYP2C19 ), cytochrome P450 3A4 ( CYP3A4 ) and ﬂavin-containing monooxygenase 3 ( FMO3 ). Many studies revealed the correlation between genetic polymorphisms of these SNPs and voriconazole metabolism. Several mutations, however, have not been reported in Thai population. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence of CYP2C19 , CYP3A4 and FMO3 polymorphisms. Two hundred and forty-nine healthy northeastern Thai volunteers who were blood donors at Srinagarind Hospital blood bank were enrolled. CYP2C19 ( *2 , *3 , *17 ), CYP3A4 ( *22 , rs4646437G > A) and FMO3 (rs2266782G > A, rs2266780A > G) mutations were investigated. The allele frequencies were CYP2C19*1 (0.72), *2 (0.24), *3 (0.03) and *17 (0.02) in this study. They were signiﬁcantly different from Caucasian and Japanese populations. Moreover, CYP3A4 rs4646437 allele frequencies were 0.76 for “G” and 0.24 for “A” alleles. The mutation of CYP3A4*22 was not found in this study. Wild type (G) and mutation (A) allele frequencies of FMO3 rs2266782 were 0.86 and 0.14, respectively. Similarly, the allele frequencies of FMO3 rs2266780 for “A” (wild type) and “G” (mutant) were 0.89 and 0.11, respectively. Furthermore, a strong linkage disequilibrium was found between FMO3 rs2266782 and rs2266780 genes ( D (cid:48) = 0.955, r 2 = 0.7021). The information on the SNP frequencies of CYP2C19 , CYP3A4 and FMO3 in Thais was found to be signiﬁcantly different from other populations. The genotype prevalence may be the preliminary information for a further clinical study to investigate the association between these genotypes and voriconazole treatment outcomes.
Effects of resistance training intensity on sleep quality and strength recovery in trained men: a randomized cross-over study

Resistance training (RT) variables can affect sleep quality, strength recovery and performance. The aim of this study was to examine the acute effect of RT leading to failure vs. non-failure on sleep quality (SQ), heart rate variability (HRV) overnight and one-repetition maximum (1-RM) performance 24 hours after training. Fifteen resistance-trained male athletes (age: 23.4 ± 2.4 years; height 178.0 ± 7.6 cm; weight: 78.2 ± 10.6 kg) performed two training sessions in a randomized order, leading to failure (4x10) or non-failure (5x8(10) repetitions), with 90 seconds for resting between sets at 75% 1-RM in bench press (BP) and half squat (HS). The day after, the participants completed the predicted 1-RM test for both exercises. In addition, the subjective and actigraphic SQ and HRV during sleep were measured after each training session. The day after the training protocol leading to failure, the 1-RM of BP (MD = 7.24 kg; -7.2%; p < 0.001) and HS (MD = 20.20 kg; -11.1%; p < 0.001) decreased. However, this parameter did not decrease after a non-failure RT session. No differences were observed between failure and non-failure training sessions on SQ and HRV; therefore, both types of training sessions similarly affected the SQ and the autonomic modulation during the night after the training session. This study provides an insight into the influence of different training strategies on SQ, strength performance and recovery after moderate- to high-demand training. This information could be useful especially for professional coaches, weightlifters and bodybuilders, due to the potential influence on the programming processes.
A Numerical Evidence of Biosonar Beam Formation of a Neonate Yangtze Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis)

Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis) are known to use the narrowband signals for echolocation. In this study, a finite-element model was configured based on computed tomography imaging technique and tissue physical properties measurement to simulate biosonar signal emission and transmission processes through animal’s head. The roles of the main structures in the head such as the air sacs, melon, bony structures, connective tissue, blubber, mandibular fat on the biosonar beam formation were investigated, and the relative importance of these structures was compared. The biosonar beam properties of this neonate porpoise were compared with those of adult ones. The method in this paper suggested an effective way for investigating the acoustic processes in the heads of the neonate odontocetes.
Deciding how to decide on public goods provision: The role of instrumental versus intrinsic motives

What determines citizens’ preferences over alternative decision-making procedures – the personal gain associated with a procedure, or the intrinsic value assigned to it? To answer this question, we present results of a laboratory experiment in which participants select a procedure to decide on the provision of a public good. In the first stage, they choose between majority voting and delegation to a welfare-maximizing algorithm. In the second stage, subjects either vote on the public good provision, or the decision is taken by the algorithm. We define three experimental conditions in which participants receive information about whether a majority in the group faces a positive or negative pay-off from the public good provision, about whether there is a positive group benefit from its provision, or neither kind of information. Findings confirm the importance of instrumental motives in procedural choices. At the same time, however, a significant share of participants chose a procedure that does not maximize their individual benefit. While majority voting seems to be preferred for intrinsic values of fairness and equality, support for delegation to the welfare-maximizing algorithm increases if the group benefit from a public good is known – even in participants who are net payers for its provision.
Ecb-Basir: A Primer on the Macroeconomic Implications of the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper studies the macroeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and makes a first step in adapting the central bank modelling apparatus to the new economic landscape. We augment the ECB-BASE model with the predictive dynamics of the SIR model in order to assess the interplay between epidemiological fundamentals, containment policies and the macroeconomy. Containment policies considerably reduce the share of infected and deceased people, but generate a sharp decline in economic activity. Barring the materialization of amplification risks, the induced recession may remain broadly V-shaped under targeted confinement policies. By comparison, a "laissez-faire" approach to the pandemic emergency can even inflict in some cases higher long-term economic costs. Nevertheless, the depth of the recession and the speed of the recovery (if at all) crucially depend on the magnitude and persistence of the supply-side retrenchment, as well as on the risk of macro-financial feedback loops. JEL Classification: E1, E3, I1