Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian Optimization of Hubbard U’s for Investigating InGaN Superlattices

In this study, we undertake a Bayesian optimization of the Hubbard U parameters of wurtzite GaN and InN. The optimized Us are then tested within the Hubbard-corrected local density approximation (LDA+U) approach against standard density functional theory, as well as a hybrid functional (HSE06). We present the electronic band structures of wurtzite GaN, InN, and (1:1) InGaN superlattice. In addition, we demonstrate the outstanding performance of the new parametrization, when computing the internal electric-fields in a series of [InN]1–[GaN]n superlattices (n = 2–5) stacked up along the c-axis.
Adaptive robust barrier‐based control of a 3D flexible riser system subject to boundary displacement constraints

This article involves an adaptive robust barrier‐based control of a three‐dimensional riser system subject to system uncertainties and output constraints. A barrier‐based Lyapunov function and a dynamical online update technique are merged to develop new adaptive robust control schemes for dampening the vibration, compensating for parametric uncertainties, and dealing with the constraints in the system. A rigorous Lyapunov analysis is exploited to guarantee the uniformly bounded stability in the controlled system. Finally, the efficacy of the designed approach is validated via simulation results.
Severity-related Changes in Laboratory Results During Early Follow-up in COVID-19 Patients Treated with a Novel Cocktail of Stem Cells

Background and aims: Laboratory tests may play an important role in the follow-up of COVID-19 patients acting as indicators of risk for severity and death. This study aims to explore the significance of certain laboratory tests in the management of COVID-19 patients treated by an autologous novel stem cells cocktail plus standard care. Methods: The 69 hospitalized COVID-19 patients recruited in the experimental arm of a clinical trial [NCT04473170] were divided into moderate or severe groups as recommended by WHO. Initial and after 21 days of treatment, laboratory data were analyzed and compared for both groups. The variable association was analyzed using the symmetric Spearman correlation matrix. Multiple linear regression was used for biomarkers most described in COVID-19 by a multivariate study and disease severity association using relative risk (RR) to laboratory variables. Results: Positive and strong associations were evidenced between parameters related to coagulation and inflammation markers. We found the strongest positive relationship between the LDH enzyme and IL-6 (r=0.81), followed by D-dimer (r=0.70). The multivariate study showed a strong influence of D-dimer, IL-6, IgG, and ceruloplasmin on the increased LDH level, with a greater influence of the last (R=0.71, p<0.0001). RR showed a statistically significant and positive association with COVID-19 severity for WBC (RR=45.2); neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (RR=3.8); IL-6 (RR=1.6); lymphocyte/monocyte ratio (LMR) (RR=1.5); and RR=1.3 for platelets/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), ferritin, and LDH. Conclusions: Risk assessment of severity using this laboratory variable is important.
STRETCHING THE NET: MULTIDIMENSIONAL REGULARIZATION

This paper derives asymptotic risk (expected loss) results for shrinkage estimators with multidimensional regularization in high-dimensional settings. We introduce a class of multidimensional shrinkage estimators (MuSEs), which includes the elastic net, and show that—as the number of parameters to estimate grows—the empirical loss converges to the oracle-optimal risk. This result holds when the regularization parameters are estimated empirically via cross-validation or Stein’s unbiased risk estimate. To help guide applied researchers in their choice of estimator, we compare the empirical Bayes risk of the lasso, ridge, and elastic net in a spike and normal setting. Of the three estimators, we find that the elastic net performs best when the data are moderately sparse and the lasso performs best when the data are highly sparse. Our analysis suggests that applied researchers who are unsure about the level of sparsity in their data might benefit from using MuSEs such as the elastic net. We exploit these insights to propose a new estimator, the cubic net, and demonstrate through simulations that it outperforms the three other estimators for any sparsity level.
Does credit risk persist in the Indian banking industry? Recent evidence

PurposeThis study aims to capture the “persistence effect” of credit risk in Indian banking industry using the bank-level data spanning over the period of 19 years from 1998/1999 to 2016/17. Alongside, the study explored how the bank-specific, industry-specific, macroeconomic variables alongside regulatory reforms, ownership changes and financial crisis affect the bank's asset quality in India.Design/methodology/approachUsing two-step system generalized method of moment (GMM) approach, the study derives key factors that affect the bank's asset quality in India.FindingsThe empirical results confirm the time persistence of credit risk among Indian banks during study period. This reflects that bank defaults are expected to increase in the current year, if it had increased past year due to time lag involved in the process of recovery of past dues. Further, higher profitability, better managerial efficiency, more diversified income from nontraditional activities, optimal size of banks, proper credit screening and monitoring and adherence regulatory norms would help in improving the credit quality of Indian banks.Practical implicationsThe practical implication drawn from the study is that nonaccumulation of nonperforming loans (NPLs), higher profitability, better managerial efficiency, more diversified income from nontraditional activities, optimal size of banks, proper credit screening and monitoring and adherence regulatory norms would help in improving the credit quality of Indian banks.Originality/valueThis study is probably the first one that identifies in addition to the current year, whether lag of bank industry-macroeconomic affects the level of NPLs of Indian banks. So far, such an analysis has received less attention with respect to Indian banking industry, especially immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis.
Culture promotion through food tourism: A case of Qatar’s local cuisine

Globally food has been considered a unifying factor that cuts across boundaries even of languages. Destinations have been at the forefront of the tourism industry mainly due to their culinary offerings. Trends such as street food markets and local food tours have become popular with many tourism destinations. Qatar is considered a conservative nation with a great potential for its culinary culture to feature prominently through its tourism offerings. The aim of this research is to understand how a destination’s food culture may sway visitors to visit or re-visit that destination. Further, what role Qatar’s cultural cuisine can influence the promotion of the country’s heritage globally. A focus and development of the nation’s culinary policies and packages in the promotion of its cultural heritage was the end intent of this study. Focus groups discussions were employed in attaining results. The results were formulated and interpreted around context; internal consistency; frequency; intensity of comments; specificity of responses; extensiveness and the big picture. The discussions reveal that Qatar offers a vibrant Middle Eastern culinary experience for tourists; however, its conservativeness can be a bit of a letdown for some travelers especially the drinking aspect of the food tourism offerings which is restricted and confined to certain spaces. The research concludes by recommending to authorities to introspect some of their stances with regards to rigidity in this sector of the tourism.
Impact of hydropriming on germination and seedling establishment of sunflower seeds at elevated temperature

Impact of hydropriming on germination and seedling establishment of sunflower seeds at elevated temperature. Plant Soil Abstract: High temperature is a limiting factor in the seed germination of most crops. This study evaluated the effects of hydropriming at 6, 12 and 18 h on germination performance and seedling establishment of sunflower seeds under high air temperature. Results showed that germination of unprimed seeds was suppressed at an average elevated temperature of 44.3 °C (range of 39.3 °C to 53.3 °C) for eighteen days indicated by an increased lag time to onset of germination and decreased germination percentage. Conversely, priming seeds for 12 h to 18 h increased the germination percentage, time to 50% seedling emergence (T 50 ), germination index and vigour index. Seedlings emerging from primed seeds exhibited uniform 16-day old seedlings (18 days after sowing), leading to greater seedling dry weight and shoot length as compared to unprimed seeds. Conversely, the total chlorophyll content remain unchanged for all seeds. The significant increase in the shoot parameters suggested a positive association with priming and stress tolerance. The priming duration of 12 h to 18 h showed improvement at elevated air temperature through the reduction of ungerminated seeds and increase in seedling growth characteristics.
Exploring the Potential Risk of Heavy Metal Pollution of Edible Cultivated Plants in Urban Gardening Contexts Using a Citizen Science Approach in the Project “Heavy Metal City-Zen”

Urban gardening has become increasingly popular, creating green oases in cities; however, many of these activities are undertaken in areas of high traffic density or on ex-brown field sites. As a consequence, there are still some barriers to the adoption of these urban gardening practices for food production. One of the public concerns is the transfer of urban pollutants such as heavy metals into the consumer’s food chain, however, city-wide data is often difficult and expensive to collect. In the citizen science project described herein, we conducted simple citizen-led common collaborative experiments in urban community gardens. These data provided information on the potential risk of heavy metal contaminants and ways in which to mitigate those risks in an urban gardening context. Generally, values were below guideline thresholds, however, at a few garden sites, soil trace metal concentrations (Pb, Cd, Zn) exceeded Austrian recommended limits. Moreover, only at two sites were plant trace metal concentrations shown to be above European food standards limits. Given the citizen’s positive response to the project, we suggest expanding this study to the whole of Vienna, giving newly established gardens a chance to predetermine the risks posed by their local soils.
Star architecture and urban transformation: introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT For nearly as long as there have been urban centres, exceptional architecture projects have contributed to transforming city form and city fortunes. In this special issue of ‘European Planning Studies’, we focus on star architecture and its ability to contribute to urban transformation, with articles on the phenomenon of star architecture from a range of disciplines. Star architecture is a topic where concerns about place, identity, economy, innovation and communication intersect. In this introduction to the special issue, we overview how star architecture participates in urban transformations, and address how research into star architecture connects to ideas of identity and branding, the media, the economy, urban governance and architecture itself. We also overview methodologies for studying star architecture and urban transformation: the choice of research methods and research approach affects the problematization and the types of research questions that can be answered. Studying star architecture offers insight into disparate fields including network analysis, media studies, geography, planning, cultural economy, identity, branding and spectacle. By looking beyond economic effects, researchers can expand the audience for studies of star architecture, and more fully understand its role in urban transformation.
The Role of Identity in Green IT Attitude and Intention

ABSTRACT Green IT practices are of global concern with huge environmental implications. Reducing CO2 emissions, conserving energy, and recycling IT are among a variety of green IT behaviors that protect the natural environment. We explore the role of green IT identity as an additional factor in a model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Theoretically, our findings show green IT identity plays a substantive role in predicting behavioral intention independent of attitude as well as indirectly through attitude. The addition of green IT identity in a behavioral model provides a more complete prediction of green IT behavior. Practically, strengthening one’s green IT identity is likely to stimulate both favorable attitudes and green IT behavior. We discuss the implications of our study for green IT research.
Understanding sense of safety and trustworthiness of tourism information among migrant visitors

PurposeThe migration-tourism discourse has gained attention in global tourism and mobility among scholars because of the vast contributions of migrant visitors to various sectors of the host country's economy, including the tourism and hospitality industry. However, few studies appear to have been undertaken on the subject matter, particularly within the developing country tourism context. The purpose of this research was to assess and understand migrant visitors' sense of safety among five different nationalities (United Kingdom, USA, Germany, China and India) and their perceptions on trustworthiness of tourism information.Design/methodology/approachAnchored on the national cultural dimension of Hofstede model, this study sampled 306 migrant visitors, with the use of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Games–Howell post-hoc test to examine mean differences of nationalities, with regard to trust of tourism information and sense of safety. Finally, the multiple regression analysis was conducted to establish the significant effects of national culture characteristics and trustworthiness of tourism information on sense of safety of migrant visitors.FindingsThe study finds that there were no significant differences in the sense of safety by the five nationalities. However, national culture characteristics (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) and trustworthiness of tourism information were significant predictors of sense of safety of migrant visitors.Research limitations/implicationsThis research adopted only two cultural dimensions of the Hofstede's model, so future studies within the migration-tourism literature should consider adopting other cultural dimensions of the model.Practical implicationsThe research provides, first, insight into sense of safety, trustworthiness of tourism information and national culture characteristics which are relevant for destination marketers, the ministry of tourism and local tourism officials to promote safety tourism.Originality/valueThe study expands the application of the cultural dimension of Hofstede model within the migration-tourism literature and establishes that national cultural characteristics and trustworthiness of tourism information are significant predictors of sense of safety of migrant visitors.
Effect of SiO2 and TiO2 Nanoparticles on the Performance of UV Visible Fluorescent Coatings

In the present research, the properties of ultraviolet (UV) visible (daylight invisible) fluorescent coatings modified by the addition of SiO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles were studied. Structural, surface, and mechanical properties and changes in the coatings caused by accelerated ageing were analyzed. The results showed that the addition of nanoparticles caused the changes in unaged and aged printed coatings. Reflectance measurements of modified coatings showed that addition of TiO2 nanoparticles improved the visual effect of the unaged coatings. Furthermore, results have shown that the addition of SiO2 did not diminish the reflectance of the modified coatings after ageing. The results of roughness measurements showed that the addition of SiO2 decreased roughness after the ageing process, probably due to the degradation process indicated by Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The roughness of the coatings with TiO2 nanoparticles was increased after the ageing on the samples with higher concentrations of TiO2 due to the agglomerates of plastisol formed on the surface of the coatings, visible in SEM images. Surface analysis of coatings showed that TiO2 caused an increase in the polarity of the surface coatings. Results of the bending stiffness showed that the addition of the nanoparticles to the coating, especially of SiO2, significantly improved the bending stiffness of the unaged samples.
Taxonomy of Dicopus psyche Girault, 1912 (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) and its association with Psocathropos lachlani Ribaga, 1899 (Psocodea: Psyllipsocidae) in houses in Taiwan

ABSTRACT The cave barklouse Psocathropos lachlani Ribaga, 1899 (Psocodea: Psyllipsocidae) occurs in many tropical and subtropical areas of the world, where it is a frequent dweller inside buildings. Numerous specimens of an egg parasitoid Dicopus psyche Girault, 1912 (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) were collected by yellow pan traps and commercial cockroach sticky traps inside houses infested with P. lachlani in two urban localities in Taiwan. This apparent association with P. lachlani is the third known host record for the genus Dicopus Enock, 1909, which is newly recorded from Taiwan. Taxonomic notes and digital images are provided for the holotype male of D. psyche from Fiji as well as for its both sexes based on specimens from Taiwan. Dicopus longipes (Subba Rao, 1984), syn. nov., originally described as Kubja longipes Subba Rao and known from Cambodia, India and Malaysia, is synonymised with D. psyche.
Effects of online flipped classroom on foreign language classroom anxiety and reading anxiety

Abstract In this study, we aimed to integrate the flipped classroom model into “Advanced Reading and Writing” course and to investigate the effect of the flipped classroom model on pre-service English language teachers’ foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and foreign language reading anxieties (FLRA). This study involved two groups (34 in the flipped group and 32 in the non-flipped group) of first-year English language teachers in Turkey. Within this framework, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale were employed to determine pre-service English language teachers’ FLCA and FLRA levels before and after the treatment in the flipped and the non-flipped groups comparatively. There was a significant decrease in the FLCA and FLRA levels in the flipped group. However, there was no significant change in the non-flipped group. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021. 1950191 .
Effect of time-of-day on freestyle flip turn performance: influence on 50 m event

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to examine the daytime effects on flip turn performance [i.e., 3 m round trip time (3mRTT) as measure of turning performance] as well as global performance during a 50 m freestyle at maximal speed. Twelve college swimmers performed 3 × 50 m freestyle at maximum speed with a flip turn and glide in a 25 m pool in two experimental trials, one in the morning (08:00 h) and one in the evening (18:00 h). Kinematic and dynamic parameters of flip turn performance are analyzed using one underwater camera and a force platform recording wall force peak and time contact. Results showed that oral temperature is significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the evening than in the morning. Also, this study reported that daily variations have been observed for both, changes in swim performance and changes in (3mRTT). Thus, kinematic and dynamic flip turn variables associated with an improvement of freestyle swim performance. It is concluded that maximal swimming trials are performed better in the evening than in the morning, and that this might be linked to variations in oral temperature; also, might be explained by better flip turn performance at this time.
Numerical Investigation of an Axisymmetric Model Scramjet Assisted with Cavity of Different Aft Wall Angles

An axisymmetric model scramjet assisted with cavity flameholder is numerically investigated. Three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation is carried out to reveal the fuel mixing and combustion characteristics. The simulation results show reasonable agreements with experimental data. The analysis indicates that the axisymmetric and rectangular scramjet has some similarities to the cavity shear layer in the nonreacting flow field. The configuration of the cavity shear layer changes hugely due to the significant chemical reaction and heat release in the reacting flow field. Typically, two more configurations with different cavity aft wall angles are compared with the experimental configuration to optimize the configuration of the cavity. When the cavity aft wall angle is small, the cavity shear layer bends to the cavity floor and more fuel enters into and stays in the cavity, which results in poor fuel mixing performance. With the increase of the aft wall angle, the fuel distributes more uniformly and the fuel mixing efficiency improves. In the reacting flow field, the volume of the cavity full of hot products and free radicals increases while the interaction between the cavity and main flow decreases with the increase of the aft wall angle. The improved combustion efficiency shows that larger cavity volume weighs more than reduced interaction between the cavity and main flow. The combustion is more violent in the case with a larger aft wall angle. Therefore, a proper increase of the aft wall angle is beneficial to the performance of cavity-assisted axisymmetric scramjet when designing the cavity flameholder.
Correlation of Hyperandrogenemia and Metabolic Syndrome in Thai Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared between hyperandrogenemia and non-hyperandrogenemia in Thai women with PCOS, and to identify factors significantly associated with metabolic syndrome in this PCOS population.Methods: Thai PCOS women were conducted during 2010-2018. Patients were categorized into the non-hyperandrogenemia group or the hyperandrogenemia group defined by total testosterone >0.8 ng/mL or free testosterone >0.006 ng/mL or dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) >350 mcg/dL. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed according to National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Demographic, anthropometric, clinical, and biochemical blood data were collected and analyzed.Results: 520 PCOS women were included. 22.6% had metabolic syndrome and 75.0% had hyperandrogenemia. Free testosterone cut-off to define hyperandrogenemia for determining metabolic syndrome in PCOS yielded the highest sensitivity (88.9%) and the highest negative predictive value (90.8%). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 27.1% in hyperandrogenemia and 9.2% in non-hyperandrogenemia. Factors significantly associating with metabolic syndrome in Thai PCOS women were age, BMI, free testosterone, and DHEA-S.Conclusion: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was to be significantly higher in hyperandrogenemia women than in their non-hyperandrogenemia counterparts. Older age, higher BMI, higher free testosterone, and lower DHEA-S were all identified as factors significantly associated with metabolic syndrome.