Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MISCANTHUS X GIGANTEUS AS A BIOFUEL CROP FOR PHYTOREMEDIATION OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATED SOILS

There has been carried out comparative research, which allows determining the quantities and the depots of accumulation of heavy metals, macro, and microelements in the vegetative organs of Miscanthus x giganteus, efficacy for phytoremediation, and quality of biomass as renewable energy sources for the combustion process. The field experiment was performed on an agricultural field contaminated by the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works (MFMW) near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The experimental plots were situated at different distances (0.5, 3.5, and 15 km) from the source of pollution. Macronutrients (N, P, K, Mg, Ca), microelements (Fe, Mn, Cu), and heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Zn) concentrations in plant materials (roots, rhizomes, stems, and leaves) were determined during the three-year research period, two harvest periods (autumn, spring) per year. Heating value, ultimate and proximate analyses were evaluated at the end of the second growing season. Miscanthus x giganteus is tolerant towards heavy metals and can be grown on highly contaminated soils (2671.6 mg/kg of Zn, 2694.8 mg/kg of Pb, and 84.8 mg/kg of Cd). The depot for accumulation follows the order: roots>stems>leaves>rhizomes. The high concentration of heavy metals in the roots and rhizomes and the low translocation factor indicate the possibility of Miscanthus x giganteus to be used in phytostabilization. The obtained results have shown that Miscanthus x giganteus can be a significant source of good quality raw material in the production of solids biofuels. The biomass is of good quality (high carbon (47.85-49.92%) and hydrogen (5.375.59%) content, and low ash (3.18-3.26%), nitrogen (0.05-0.1%), chlorine (0.056-0.085%), and sulphur (0.0060.048%) content and high energy potential (17.38-18.32 MJ/kg LHV). The degree of soil contamination did not have a significant influence on heating values, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulphur contents but did influence on biomass heavy metal contents. The content of heavy metals in the biomass of Miscanthus x giganteus grown on heavily contaminated soils is significantly higher and exceeds the limit values according to the standard ISO 17225-6:2014. Biomass of Miscanthus x giganteus from highly contaminated soils could be used as a source of energy if the burning of biomass occurs in power plants equipped with purification systems to control dust emissions.
A Game Theoretic Approach to Age of Information in Modern Random Access Systems

The age of information is a performance metric describing the freshness of updates, and is of particular interest for remote sensing scenarios involving high number of nodes, as is expected to happen, e.g., in emergency scenarios or industrial applications of the Internet of Things. Only recently, this metric received a rigorous treatment in the context of modern random access techniques that are realistic for this kind of systems. In this paper, we extend these investigations from the perspective of game theory, to discuss the role of individual strategic choices on the resulting system performance. We highlight how the introduction and fine-tuning of some parameters, specifically a cost for transmission from the nodes, can regulate the overall performance and achieve system-wide efficient allocations that are also equilibria for the selfish needs of the individual users.
Fundamental Electromagnetic Emissions by a Weak Electron Beam in Solar Wind Plasmas with Density Fluctuations

The generation of Langmuir wave turbulence by a weak electron beam in a randomly inhomogeneous plasma and its subsequent electromagnetic radiation are studied owing to two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations in conditions relevant to type III solar radio bursts. The essential impact of random density fluctuations of average levels of a few percents of the background plasma on the characteristics of the electromagnetic radiation at the fundamental plasma frequency ω p is shown. Not only wave nonlinear interactions but also processes of Langmuir waves’ transformations on the density fluctuations contribute to the generation of such emissions. During the beam relaxation, the amount of electromagnetic energy radiated at ω p in a plasma with density fluctuations strongly exceeds that observed when the plasma is homogeneous. The fraction of Langmuir wave energy involved in the generation of electromagnetic emissions at ω p saturates around 10−4, i.e., one order of magnitude above that reached when the plasma is uniform. Moreover, whereas harmonic emission at 2ω p dominates over fundamental emission during the time evolution in a homogeneous plasma, fundamental emission is strongly dominant when the plasma contains density fluctuations, at least during several thousands of plasma periods before being overcome by harmonic emission when the total electromagnetic energy begins to saturate.
Physical (Morphometric) and Electrocardiographic Parameters in Balkan Donkey in Serbia

Balkan donkey is a native donkey breed that lives in Balkan peninsula and traditionally is reared in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Since the population has declined severely and only less than 200 males and females are actively breeding the breed status is endangered and it is included in AnGR preservation/conservation program in Serbia. The organized breeding and development of the breed description has started at the beginning of the 21 century and the breed is not fully described yet. This is the first time that that clinical proceduresECG, have been evaluated in concern with frame and size of Balkan donkey. Our results show that there is a need to expand our investigation to fulfill gap in understanding Balkan donkey physiology and diagnostics. -----------------------------------------------------------------------* Corresponding author. American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) (2020) Volume 72, No 1, pp 143-151 144 The evaluation of morphometric and electrocardiographic parameters in endangered Balkan donkey breed in Serbia was performed and individual data important for clinical evaluation and breeding were estimated in aim to provide initial morphometric and electrocardiographic data for the endangered Balkan donkey breed in Serbia and to assess the ECG procedure in relation to specific anatomy and body proportions of the breed.
Gains from globalization and economic nationalism: AMLO versus NAFTA in the 2006 Mexican elections

Do gains from globalization erode support for economic nationalism? We study how NAFTA-enhanced local access to US-markets affected Mexican demands for protectionist platforms. The left -led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)under-performed in cities benefiting from export access gains during the 2006 presidential elections. This effect is observed strictly in 2006 -the only post-NAFTA election in which debates over trade integration played a salient role. Our findings are robust to controls for import competing pressures from NAFTA and the China Shock. AMLO’s 2006 protectionist platform likely cost him that year’s election, and campaign media strategies in 2012 map to this earlier
The structural equation model of brand identity and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of Iranian Football League’s fans Modelul ecuaţiei structurale privind relaţia dintre identitatea de brand și loialitatea atitudinală și comportamentală a fanilor Ligii

Background. Identity is a key element in branding and the core element of a successful brand is to perceive how the brand identity is created and developed. Aims. This research tackles the modeling of structural equation of brand identity dimensions and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty in Iranian Super League’s fans. Methods. The present study is descriptive-analytical and completed as a survey. The statistical population included the 13 Iranian league clubs and 690 people were chosen using the Q-Cochran formula and stratified random and cluster sampling methods. The author developed a Fan Based Brand Equity (FBBE) instrument based on Kapffer’s model in brand identity and Meller and Hansan’s model of attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. The first section included demographic characteristics and the second section consisted of items covering all variables by Likert’s seven item scale. Content reliability was CVI=0.87 and internal validity was investigated in a pilot study by two methods of test-retest and Cronbach’s Alpha (0.75) SPSS 20 used for descriptive statistics of variables and data normality and AMOS20 used for structural equation modeling. Results. The results showed that brand identity had a significant positive effect on the loyalty to the brand. Tangible identity had a significant positive effect on behavioral loyalty but no significant effect on the attitudinal loyalty of Iranian Super League fans. Conclusions. Reinforcement of the football brands’ intangible identity has an impressing effect on the brand. Brand identity could duplicate the power of attracting fans.
An application of deep learning for exchange rate forecasting

This paper examines the performance of several state-of-the-art deep learning techniques for exchange rate forecasting (deep feedforward network, convolutional network and a long short-term memory). On the one hand, the configuration of the different architectures is clearly detailed, as well as the tuning of the parameters and the regularisation techniques used to avoid overfitting. On the other hand, we design an out-of-sample forecasting experiment and evaluate the accuracy of three different deep neural networks to predict the US/UK foreign exchange rate in the days after the Brexit took effect. Of the three configurations, we obtain the best results with the deep feedforward architecture. When comparing the deep learning networks to time-series models used as a benchmark, the obtained results are highly dependent on the specific topology used in each case. Thus, although the three architectures generate more accurate predictions than the time-series models, the results vary considerably depending on the specific topology. These results hint at the potential of deep learning techniques, but they also highlight the importance of properly configuring, implementing and selecting the different topologies. JEL Classification: C45, C58, E47, F31, G17.
You Can't Manage What You Can't Define: The Success of Blockchain Projects Beyond the Iron Triangle

Companies across industries aim to disseminate blockchain through respective projects that evaluate, design, or implement use cases. However, due to its novelty and complexity, blockchain poses novel challenges in carrying out such projects. Companies use success criteria to constantly evaluate projects. Even though literature provides frameworks for the general evaluation of projects, no research yet investigated if success criteria fundamentally differ for blockchain projects due to the characteristics of the technology. Therefore, we assess success dimensions and criteria, deduced and evaluated from an in-depth interview study with blockchain experts from 12 different projects. We contribute to the theory on blockchain project management by introducing a new success dimension and specific success criteria for blockchain projects. Our findings help to elaborate the value of blockchain in companies and novel possibilities to evaluate respective projects. We provide additional insights by assessing their relative importance and discussing implications for theory and practice.
Active Allocation to Smart Factor Indices

While smart beta equity indices are often perceived as a threat for traditional active managers, this paper argues that they can also be regarded as an opportunity when used as efficient building blocks in active factor allocation strategies. We first show that substantial value can be added by time-varying strategic factor allocation decisions, where the focus is on efficiently reacting to changes in risk parameter estimates for various factor indices. In a second step, we show that additional value can be added by tactical factor allocation decisions based on an economic and statistical analysis of the conditional performance of smart factor indices for different types of market environment. Finally, we show that the strategically or tactically managed portfolio of smart factor indices can be used as an underlying satellite portfolio within a dynamic coresatellite strategy designed to generate a substantial access to the benefits of smart beta equity benchmarks with limited downside risk relative to the cap-weighted core portfolio.
The Impact of Perceived Risk on Future Travel: The Role of Destination Trust during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly a significant influence on the tourism industry due to the perceived risk of travelers that cause them to change their travel decision. The study proposed a conceptual framework to identify the impact of the risk perceptions of the residents of Alexandria on the intention to travel to tourism destinations during the pandemic. The study examined four risk types; financial risk, psychological risk, health risk, and travel risk. The proposed framework also investigated the mediating role of destination trust in the relationship between the four types of risk and intention to travel. An online questionnaire was conducted on potential leisure travelers, and a structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships between hypotheses. The results showed a significant relationship only between psychological, health and travel risk and the intention to travel. The results also proved that only travel risk has no impact on travel intention in the presence of destination trust during the pandemic. The unique contribution of the study is investigating the effect of trust on the relationship between perceived risk and travel intention. Useful practical implications are provided by the study to help Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to develop strategies to decrease the risk perceptions and encourage travelers to revisit tourism destinations.
Political Liberalization and Human Development∗

It has been long debated among comparativists whether democratic states advance human development. By regressing infant mortality rates on a cumulative score of democracy, recent studies have suggested that a long tradition of democracy is of greater importance than the present degree of democracy to explain human development. This approach, however, faces several issues and also fails to pinpoint the effect of a democratic reform at a certain point in time on future human welfare. We argue that political liberalization encourages policymakers to adopt poverty-alleviating policies, but such a policy change is more likely to bear substantive fruit over the relatively long run. Using newly collected panel data on infant mortality rates from 1800 to 2015 from 172 countries, we test our theoretical expectations. Applying error correction models to this extensive time-series cross-sectional data, we find that political liberalization is more likely to increase equal access to public services immediately but that infant mortality rates are reduced in the long run. ∗Previous versions of this paper were presented at Gakushuin University, Tohoku University, Waseda University, the IMT School for Advanced Studies, and the 2017 annual meetings of the European Political Science Association and the Japan Association of Comparative Politics. We greatly appreciate the feedback given by the participants in those conferences and workshops. We are also really thankful to the two anonymous reviewers and the Editors of World Development, as well as Rui Asano, Dan Hansen, Marisa Kellam, Masaru Kohno, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Keiichi Kubo, Ikuo Kume, Kaiji Motegi, Haruko Noguchi, Jan Teorell, and Yu Jin Woo for their helpful advice and thoughtful suggestions. This research was funded by the JSPS grants-in-aid (JP18J10578, 17H04779). †Assistant Professor of Political Science, Waseda Institute for Advanced Studies at Waseda University. ‡Associate Professor of Political Science, Graduate School of Information Sciences at Tohoku University. Email: masaaki.higashijima. d8@tohoku.ac. jp.
NDT_A_338133 75..85

1School of Nursing, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; 2Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; 3School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; 4The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Introduction: Studies have shown that rumination plays a significant mediating role between dispositional mindfulness (DM) and psychopathological symptoms in both clinical and non-clinical populations. However, no studies have examined this pathway in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs). Methods: A cross-sectional, clinician-administered survey was conducted among people with SSDs (n = 52) in a community setting. Participants completed the Chinese versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form, Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. Structural equation modelling was performed to examine the pathways of mindfulness facets, rumination, negative emotions and psychotic symptoms. Results: Two facets of mindfulness (nonjudging and acting with awareness) reduced rumination and negative emotional status. Rumination fully mediated the relationship between nonjudging and negative emotions and partially mediated the relationship between acting with awareness and negative emotions. Furthermore, rumination and negative emotions sequentially mediated the relationship between acting with awareness and hallucination (B = −0.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.338 to −0.045, p = 0.01) and between nonjudging and hallucination (B = −0.356, 95% CI = −0.255 to −0.008, p = 0.034). The model fit the data well (χ(2) = 1.318, p = 0.517, Tucker– Lewis index = 1.075, comparative fit index = 1, standardised root mean residual = 0.0251, root mean square error of approximation = 0.0001). Conclusion: Rumination and negative emotions serially mediated the relationship between DM and hallucination. The findings support the contribution of changes across transdiagnostic mediators underlying the therapeutic effects of mindfulness training. Further research examining the transdiagnostic processes of DM in influencing clinical outcomes in SSDs is warranted.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS AND EFL TEACHERS’ TRAINING NEEDS: A SIMULATION STUDY

Professional development programs (PDPs) are the door for teachers to learn and acquire the latest approaches in the teaching process. This study aimed to find out the EFL teachers’ needs that should be incorporated in PDPs and the extent to which the current PDPs at Taif University English Language Center (TUELC) met the EFL teachers’ needs. These aims were fulfilled through an explanatory sequential research design which used questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that teachers need to be trained on most of the proposed educational skills such as teaching skills, research skills, and management skills. Furthermore, the current study revealed that years of teaching experience is not a factor in determining EFL teachers’ needs of PDPs. They also showed that the current PDPs have met EFL teachers’ needs to some extent. However, there were few important needs that should be focused on during the designing of PDPs. Therefore, this study recommended to have needs analysis before conducting any training program as success of PDPs depends on identification and understanding teachers’ perceptions and needs. Needs Analysis enables the training programs designers to focus on teachers’ needs without wasting their time and efforts. This study contributed to the knowledge of EFL teachers’ needs in PDPs which were identified based on its findings.
Integrated disease management strategies in false smut of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

False smut disease of rice caused by the fungus Ustilaginoidea virens (Cooke), has recently been found in agroclimatic conditions of Uttar Pradesh and is sporadic where rice is cultivated. Rain and high humidity (>90%), temperature ranging from 25-35 oC and intensive method of rice cultivation with use of heavy nitrogenous fertilizers resulted into the severe form of disease. The incidence of this disease is becoming a major constraint to adoption of rice cultivars in Gorakhpur district which is situated in North Eastern Plains regions. Considering the facts, integrated disease control approaches were comprised under farmer’s participatory on-farm trial for false smut management in two consecutive years in kharif 2017 and 2018. Technological gap between improved management package and farmers practices were studied based on survey and group discussion with farmers. Full gap was observed in case of use of seed/seedling treatment and partial gap was in use of varieties, method of transplanting, number of hill/m, use of fertilizers, weed management and plant protection measures, which definitely was the reason of not achieving potential yield. The average incidence of false smut in paddy i.e. 5.75% was recorded in demonstrated plot while it was 10.25% in farmers practice. On an average disease reduction was 42.65 per cent noticed with the use of integrated disease management approach over farmer’s practice respectively. Average infected panicle/hill i.e. 1.38 and average infected panicle/m i.e. 2.25 was observed with use of integrated approach while it was noticed 2.38 and 3.25 in existing practices. The recommended rice cultivar yielded 50.25q/ha yield during kharif 2017 while 49.50q/ha was noticed in kharif 2018, it was 19.64 and 20.15 per cent more over farmer’s practice. The average net returns i.e. Rs. 49793.75/ha was received in demonstrated plots while farmers were obtained Rs. 38785.00/ha by their own practices. On an average benefit cost ratio 2.74 was found under demonstrated technologies while it was 2.45 in farmer’s practices. The outcome of the trial inspired the farming communities to adopt area wise recommended varieties with judicious use of nitrogenous fertilizer and other technological options including integrated disease management approach which are being adopted in their cultivation.
Comparing Manual Against Automated Measures of the Tone of Interim Management Statements: A Market Based Approach

: This paper contributes to the debate on content analysis methods by comparing the linguistic tone of financial disclosures derived from manual content analysis with that from automated, that is, computer-assisted, content analysis. Using a sample of 1,022 UK Interim Management Statements (IMSs) we provide evidence that, compared to tone scored by automated wordlists, tone scored manually has greater explanatory power for abnormal stock returns around the IMS disclosure events. When net tone is replaced by separate measures of positive and negative tone, we find that the explanatory power of tone for the market response materially improves for the automated measures but not for the manual measure. Detailed comparisons of the manual and automated scores reveals specific limitations of the automated approaches.