Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictive Bookmaker Consensus Model for the UEFA Euro 2016

From 10 June to 10 July 2016 the best European football teams will meet in France to determine the European Champion in the UEFA European Championship 2016 tournament (Euro 2016 for short). For the first time 24 teams compete, expanding the format from 16 teams as in the previous five Euro tournaments. For forecasting the winning probability of each team a predictive model based on bookmaker odds from 19 online bookmakers is employed. The favorite is the host France with a forecasted winning probability of 21.5%, followed by the current World Champion Germany with a winning probability of 20.1%. The defending European Champion Spain follows after some gap with 13.7% and all remaining teams are predicted to have lower chances with England (9.2%) and Belgium (7.7%) being the "best of the rest". Furthermore, by complementing the bookmaker consensus results with simulations of the whole tournament, predicted pairwise probabilities for each possible game at the Euro 2016 are obtained along with "survival" probabilities for each team proceeding to the different stages of the tournament. For example, it can be determined that it is much more likely that top favorites France and Germany meet in the semifinal (7.8%) rather than in the final at the Stade de France (4.2%) - which would be a re-match of the friendly game that was played on 13 November 2015 during the terrorist attacks in Paris and that France won 2-0. Hence it is maybe better that the tournament draw favors a match in the semifinal at Marseille (with an almost even winning probability of 50.5% for France). The most likely final is then that either of the two teams plays against the defending champion Spain with a probability of 5.7% for France vs. Spain and 5.4% for Germany vs. Spain, respectively. All forecasts are the result of an aggregation of quoted winning odds for each team in the Euro 2016: These are first adjusted for profit margins ("overrounds"), averaged on the log-odds scale, and then transformed back to winning probabilities. Moreover, team abilities (or strengths) are approximated by an "inverse" procedure of tournament simulations, yielding estimates of probabilities for all possible pairwise matches at all stages of the tournament. This technique correctly predicted the winner of the FIFA 2010 and Euro 2012 tournaments while missing the winner but correctly predicting the final for the Euro 2008 and three out of four semifinalists at the FIFA 2014 World Cup (Leitner, Zeileis, and Hornik 2008, 2010a,b; Zeileis, Leitner, and Hornik 2012, 2014).
Does Internet Use Improve the Income of Residents? —Empirical Evidence from CGSS2017

Abstract The Internet penetration rate rises sharply in recent years in China. This change has had a significant impact on residents’ income. By using Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data set, this paper investigates whether residents who use the Internet earn a higher income than similar residents who do not use the Internet by using propensity score matching. The results show that there is a premium associated with Internet use. Estimates suggest that a premium for residents who use the Internet is around twice as much for residents who do not use the Internet. Additionally, this paper finds that the inlome differences between using the Internet and not using the Internet for groups of middle-aged and elderly resident and agricultural household registration residents are more significant. Based on the research results, several relevant policy implications are presented to improve resident’s income.
The Effect of COVID-19 on Cardiac Surgical Volume and its Associated Costs

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected healthcare and in particular surgical volume. However, no data surrounding lost hospital revenue due to decreased cardiac surgical volume have been reported. The National Inpatient Sample database was used with decreases in cardiac surgery at a single center to generate a national estimate of decreased cardiac operative volume. Hospital charges and provided charge to cost ratios were used to create estimates of lost hospital revenue, adjusted for 2020 dollars. The COVID period was defined as January to May of 2020. A Gompertz function was used to model cardiac volume growth to pre-COVID levels. Single center cardiac case demographics were internally compared during January to May for 2019 and 2020 to create an estimate of volume reduction due to COVID. The maximum decrease in cardiac surgical volume was 28.3%. Cumulative case volume and hospital revenue loss during the COVID months as well as the recovery period totaled over 35 thousand cases and 2.5 billion dollars. Institutionally, patients during COVID months were younger, more frequently undergoing a CABG procedure, and had a longer length of stay. The pandemic caused a significant decrease in cardiac surgical volume and a subsequent decrease in hospital revenue. This data can be used to address the accumulated surgical backlog and programmatic changes for future occurrences.
2‐Step PLT16‐AST44 method: Simplified liver fibrosis detection system in patients with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

Accurate detection of the hepatic fibrosis stage is essential to estimate the outcome of patients with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Many formulas, biomarkers, and imaging tests are being developed to predict advanced liver fibrosis without performing a liver biopsy. However, these tests do not have high efficiency in detecting early‐stage hepatic fibrosis. Therefore, we aimed to detect the presence of hepatic fibrosis (≥F1) merely by using only standard clinical markers.
Acting like a Hedgehog in Times of Pandemic: Metaphorical Creativity in the #reframecovid Collection

ABSTRACT The need to provide novel but meaningful ways to reason and talk about an unprecedented crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a surge of creative metaphoric expressions in a variety of communicative settings. In order to investigate novel ways of conceptualizing the pandemic, we consider the metaphors included in the #ReframeCovid collection, a crowdsourced dataset of metaphors for the pandemic that rely on non-war frames. Its heterogeneous makeup of multilingual and multimodal examples (to date, over 550 examples – monomodal and multimodal in 30 languages) offers a unique opportunity to explore the ways in which metaphors have been used creatively to describe different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. The patterns of metaphor creativity discussed in this paper include: creative realizations (verbal and visual) of wide-scope mappings, the use of one-off source domains, shifts in the valence of the source domain evoked, and the exploitation of source domains that are specific to particular discourse communities. The analysis of multimodal examples contributes to our understanding of the role of metaphor in sense-making and communication at a time of an extraordinary global crisis and will also provide new insights into metaphor creativity as a multidimensional phenomenon that integrates conceptual, discursive and cultural factors.
Understanding consumers’ intention to switch to electric motorcycles: a transaction cost economics perspective

ABSTRACT In the context of global commitment to decarbonising the highly urbanising world, studies of consumer thinking regarding switching to electric motorcycles are lacking. Our study therefore attempts to provide a first illustration of a model drawing on transaction cost economics (TCE) theory. We hypothesise that consumers’ intention to switch to electric motorcycles is based on perceived transaction costs (i.e. search and adoption costs), and transaction costs are determined by different types of uncertainty (i.e. branding, environmental, performance and behavioural uncertainty), and dependability. Given recent calls to develop our understanding of green consumption in different contexts, we use the Asia Pacific region as an illustrative context. Regression modelling is based on data collected from a sample of 1094 consumers in Taipei. Our findings confirm all of the proposed hypotheses. The implications of the findings are discussed as well as the limitations of the study and recommendations for further research.
Effect of Sb2O3 Addition on Properties of BaTiO3 Ceramics

Abstract This research aimed to study the effect of Sb2O3 addition on the properties of BaTiO3 ceramics. Pure and doped BaTiO3 powders were synthesized by the mixed oxide method using BaCO3 and TiO2 as starting materials, and the Sb2O3 was added with x wt% (x = 0-2). The mixed powders were then calcined at 1200 °C for 4 h, before pressing into pellets and sintered at 1250 °C for 4 h. Pure and 0.4 wt% Sb2O3 doped BaTiO3 ceramics also showed the BaTiO3 phase with tetragonal structure. The 0.4 wt% Sb2O3 condition showed the highest tetragonality (c/a). When BaTiO3 was doped with Sb2O3 at more than 0.4 wt%, the tetragonality decreased. Decreasing tetragonality of the BaTiO3 lattice indicated the transforming structure from tetragonal to pseudo-cubic. Pure BaTiO3 ceramic showed the largest grain size of about 1.40 µm. With the addition of Sb2O3, the grain size reduced. The 0.4 wt% Sb2O3 condition showed the highest density value size of 5.10 g/cm3, and the highest dielectric constant at 10 kHz of about 4271 at Curie temperature (Tc = 112 °C). Dielectric loss of this condition decreased by about 50% compared to the pure BaTiO3 ceramic and the dielectric constant decreased with increasing frequency. The BaTiO3 ceramic was doped with Sb2O3 at higher than 0.4 wt%, the dielectric constant decreased and the peaks became increasingly flat due to these conditions transform to the pseudo-cubic lattice structure.
Current status of bees in Fiji - geographical distribution and role in pollination of crop plants

ABSTRACT The rapid decline of bee populations over the last decade is thought to be driven by a combination of environmental change, habitat loss, invasive species, co-introduced disease, and chemical use in agriculture. Native bee species, managed honey bees (Apis mellifera), and other introduced bee species in Fiji provide great economic value by assisting in pollination of crops and also contribute to the maintenance of plant biodiversity in Fiji, but do not occur in the high numbers that they can elsewhere in the world. Recent scientific evidence suggests, however, that there is also a high risk of current and future decline in native bee numbers and potentially species in Fiji. Thus, for effective conservation of native bee fauna, knowledge of bee species richness, diversity, and possible threats is critical. In response to a recent flurry of publication activity on the Fijian bee fauna over the last decade, we review the current bee species found in Fiji, their geographical range, and their interactions with the environment. We also discuss the implications and importance of introduced bees and the reciprocal need for conservation methods to be put in place to ensure that the endemic Fijian bee species are not forced into extinction.
Development of ELISA protocol for novel goat coronavirus and survey of exposed herds in Northern California ELISA Protocol:

Coronaviruses are pathogens that lead to respiratory and gastrointestinal disease in a range of animals including humans, cattle, small ruminants, other mammals, turkey, and other avian species. A few studies have investigated the seroprevalence of coronaviruses in small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, and have found only very low levels. The first recorded instance of coronavirus infection in goats within the United States, was in 2017. During two separate goat shows in Northern California, outbreaks of enteric and respiratory disease were observed. The virus was identified by fecal PCR, and sequencing revealed a novel coronavirus closely related to bovine coronavirus. The purpose of this study was to determine the within-herd prevalence of this novel coronavirus in show goats in Northern California. Specifically, this study used goat serum samples collected in 2017, 2018 and 2020 from herds with known exposure and lack of exposure, to validate an ELISA protocol for screening goats’ for immunity to this novel virus. This was done using an ELISA kit commonly used for bovine coronavirus modified for use with goat serum. Following validation of this protocol, ELISA analysis was conducted on goat herds with risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus. The results from these analyses indicate that goats in Northern California do have significant exposure to this virus. The next steps of this project are to continue to determine within herd immunity to the coronavirus in order to determine to prevalence duration of seropositivity.
Heavy-Ion Collisions toward High-Density Nuclear Matter

In the present paper, the current efforts in heavy-ion collisions toward high-density nuclear matter will be discussed. First, the essential points learned from RHIC and LHC will be reviewed. Then, the present data from the STAR Beam Energy Scan are discussed. Finally, the current efforts, NICA, FAIR, HIAF, and J-PARC-HI (heavy ion) are described. In particular, the efforts of the J-PARC-HI project are described in detail.
Social Security Net, Rural-Urban Migration and Poverty Alleviation : Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment of Institutional Reform in Rural China Robustness Check for the Time Trend Result of the Lowest 10% Households

In this paper we explore a quasi-experiment that took place in China, in a typical poor rural county in China, Xin County in Henan Province. In this county they assigned county oﬃcials (outsiders) to poor villages in order to act as the village supervisors. This newly introduced institutional reform improved formal insurance and the local governance quality in the treated villages. We estimate the impact of this reform on the households’ migration choices and outcomes, most importantly income. We use the fact that the location of the village borders are exogenous and were determined many years ago to argue that the location of any households close to a border is random with respect to which side of the border it is located on, namely it is randomly assigned to the treatment. This random location determine whether or not a household is in a treated village. Combining this random assignment detailed administrative household-level data geo-referenced to the exact locations around the village borders allow us to identify causal eﬀects of the institutional reform on important outcomes, using spatial regression discontinuity design. We ﬁnd that: (a) the introduction of village supervisors can improve the eﬃciency and fairness of the formal insurance by diminishing within village favoritism; (b) the improvements in formal insurance decreases the spatial misallocation of labor by substantially increasing the out-migration of individuals from the the ultra-poor households to urban areas by about 19 percentage points for young males, and to a lesser degree for young females; (c) the out-migration helped the average poor household to increase the household income by more than 1700 CNY (or 36% of the annual minimum living standard) in only two years after the enactment of the reform; and (d) these forces served as the main drivers for the signiﬁcant poverty alleviation in rural China from 2016 to 2020.
Use of Test Doubles in Android Testing: An In-Depth Investigation

Android apps interact with their environment extensively, which can result in flaky, slow, or hard-to-debug tests. Developers often address these problems using test doubles—developer-defined objects that replace app or library classes during test execution. Although test doubles are widely used, there is limited understanding of how they are used in practice. To bridge this gap, we present an in-depth empirical study that aims to shed light on how developers create and use test doubles in Android apps. In our study, we first analyze a dataset of 1,006 apps with publicly available test suites to identify which frameworks and approaches developers most commonly use to create test doubles. We then investigate several research questions by studying how test doubles defined using these popular frameworks are created and used in the ten apps in the dataset that define the highest number of test doubles using these frameworks. Our results, based on the analysis of 2,365 test doubles that replace a total of 784 classes, provide insight into the types of test doubles used within Android apps and how they are utilized. Our results also show that test doubles used in Android apps and traditional Java test doubles differ in at least some respect. Finally, our results show that test doubles can introduce test smells and even mistakes in the test code. In the paper, we also discuss some implications of our findings that can help researchers and practitioners working in this area and guide future research.
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi e-ISSN: 2536-4758 Görüşlerde Öğrenci Özelliklerinin Rolü The Role of Student Related Characteristics in Nature of Science Views

The present study investigated middle school students’ views on the nature of science (NOS) in relation to gender, grade level, and learning environment perceptions adopting a cross-sectional and correlational research design. A total of 608 middle school students (319 girls and 289 boys) attending Grade 7 (n = 286) and Grade 8 (n = 322) participated in the study. Students’ NOS views were examined in terms of Theory-laden /Cultural impacts, Changing/tentative nature, Non-objective nature, and Creative nature/Justification tenets using Students’ Views of Nature of Science Instrument. Learning environment perceptions, on the other hand, were assessed using What is Happening in This Class Questionnaire, in these seven dimensions: Student cohesiveness, Teacher support, Involvement, Task orientation, Cooperation, and Equity. According to the results, there were no gender or grade level differences with respect to students’ NOS views. Findings also demonstrated that all dimensions of learning environment perceptions were related to the students’ views on all NOS tenets except for changing/tentative nature. Results were discussed considering relevant literature and implications for future research and classroom practices were outlined.
Splitting Necklaces

Let N be an opened necklace with ha, beads of color i, 1 < i $ t. We show that it is possible to cut N in (k - 1). t places and partition the resulting intervals into k collections, each containing precisely ai beads of color i, 1 6 i < t. This result is best possible and solves a problem of Goldberg and West. Its proof is topological and uses a generalization, due to Barany, Shlosman and Sziics, of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. By similar methods we obtain a generalization of a theorem of Hobby and Rice on L,-approximation.
Cryptocurrencies and Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

ABSTRACT:The paper provides an overview of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi). The discussion lays out potential benefits and challenges of the new system and presents a comparison to the traditional system of financial intermediation. Our analysis highlights that while the DeFi architecture might have the potential to reduce transaction costs, similar to the traditional financial system, there are several layers where rents can accumulate due to endogenous constraints to competition. We show that the permissionless and pseudonymous design of DeFi generates challenges for enforcing tax compliance and anti–money laundering laws and preventing financial malfeasance. We highlight ways to regulate the DeFi system which would preserve a majority of benefits of the underlying blockchain architecture but support accountability and regulatory compliance.
Measuring and monitoring operational availability of rail infrastructure

In reliability and maintenance engineering, availability can be described as the ability of an item to be in a state to perform a required function at a given time. Availability is commonly given as a measure between zero and one, where one means the probability of an item to be available for use at a given time is 100%. Availability is measured in many areas, such as electronics, information technologies, military equipment, electrical grids and the industry. Various indicators related to availability of railways have been examined by academia and industry. However, there is some ambiguity about how to define and measure the availability of rail infrastructure, given railways' semi-continuous operation, besides data quality issues. This article considers the application of common definitions of availability to rail infrastructure. It includes a case study comparing various approaches for measuring availability. The case study ends with a section on how availability as a function of train frequency and maintenance time can be simulated. The results show rail infrastructure availability correlates well with train delay, but this depends on how infrastructure failure data and outliers are treated.
Radiomics of Biliary Tumors: A Systematic Review of Current Evidence

Biliary tumors are rare diseases with major clinical unmet needs. Standard imaging modalities provide neither a conclusive diagnosis nor robust biomarkers to drive treatment planning. In several neoplasms, texture analyses non-invasively unveiled tumor characteristics and aggressiveness. The present manuscript aims to summarize the available evidence about the role of radiomics in the management of biliary tumors. A systematic review was carried out through the most relevant databases. Original, English-language articles published before May 2021 were considered. Three main outcome measures were evaluated: prediction of pathology data; prediction of survival; and differential diagnosis. Twenty-seven studies, including a total of 3605 subjects, were identified. Mass-forming intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) was the subject of most studies (n = 21). Radiomics reliably predicted lymph node metastases (range, AUC = 0.729–0.900, accuracy = 0.69–0.83), tumor grading (AUC = 0.680–0.890, accuracy = 0.70–0.82), and survival (C-index = 0.673–0.889). Textural features allowed for the accurate differentiation of ICC from HCC, mixed HCC-ICC, and inflammatory masses (AUC > 0.800). For all endpoints (pathology/survival/diagnosis), the predictive/prognostic models combining radiomic and clinical data outperformed the standard clinical models. Some limitations must be acknowledged: all studies are retrospective; the analyzed imaging modalities and phases are heterogeneous; the adoption of signatures/scores limits the interpretability and applicability of results. In conclusion, radiomics may play a relevant role in the management of biliary tumors, from diagnosis to treatment planning. It provides new non-invasive biomarkers, which are complementary to the standard clinical biomarkers; however, further studies are needed for their implementation in clinical practice.