Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quality of Life among the Elderly at Rumah Seri Kenangan, Cheras, Malaysia

The research objectives were to determine the relationships between age, education level, previous employment, and marital status towards the quality of life among the elderly at Rumah Seri Kenangan, Cheras. The study employed a quantitative research approach through the adoption of the Ferrans conceptual model for quality of life. The consensus sampling technique evoked a sample size of n=145. The analyses obtained from this study revealed that there were no significant relationships between the first three independent variables to their quality of life except for marital status; the quality of life is better if there is companionship among the elderly. Keywords: Elderly; Quality of Life; Social environment; Demography eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i12. 1752
3D plasma response to resonant external magnetic perturbation and its impact on fast ion confinement in JT-60SA plasmas

Resonant Magnetic Perturbation (RMP) field applied by Error Field Correction Coil (EFCC) is studied qualitatively and quantitatively for a JT-60SA plasma. The RMP of n=3 is studied and significant stochastization of edge magnetic field lines by the 3D plasma response is found. To evaluate the 3D plasma response, the 3D MHD equilibrium is studied by a 3D MHD equilibrium calculation code without the assumption of nested flux surfaces. Namely, magnetic islands in the edge region evolve and the stochasticity of magnetic field lines is enhanced. Because of enhanced stochasticity, lobe structures near the X-point appear and the divertor leg is split. The thermal heat load on the divertor plate might be reduced by splitting divertor legs. However, enhanced stochasticity leads increased fast ion loss. Using the 3D MHD equilibrium field, 3D Monte Carlo simulations of fast ions driven by the NBI is performed. Comparing with the vacuum approximation, the fast ion loss is increased for the 3D MHD equilibrium. The loss mechanism is mainly orbit loss and that directly connects to enhanced stochasticity.
Effect of different types of biochar on soil chemical properties , microbial community, pathogenic fungi and faba bean productivity

This experiment was carried out in sandy loam soil of private from at Romana , North Sinai Governorate, Egypt during two successive winter seasons 2017 / 2018 and 2018 /2019, to study the effect of three types of biochar, (A) produced from corn stalk, straw rice , straw of faba bean and cotton stalk, (B) produced from trees stalk and (C) town refuse, with three levels from Urea fertilizer (0, 20, 30 Kg N/fed), plus control treatment which received the recommended dose of urea (46 %N), to examine the effects of biochar types combined with or without nitrogen fertilizer on faba bean productivity under saline soil conditions. Faba bean variety Giza 843 were sowed on 12 November 2017 and 2018The experiment was carried out in a split plot design with three replicates. The used to three biochar types were arranged randomly as sub plot, were different rates of mineral nitrogen fertilizer was distributed randomly as main plot. Results obtained that, the combination between biochar types with different levels of N fertilizer enhanced all tested parameters. Moreover, biochar type (C) with level 30 Kg N/fed recoded the highest values of all tested parameters. On the other hand, the same treatment was the most effective on the root rot and wilt incidences, where the survival plants was % 97.9 and 93.4 respectively and decreased the number of the pathogenic fungi.
The Effect of Feedbacks on Web-Based Learning Modules for Vocational Students

The objectives of the research were to study the effects of feedbacks on achievement of vocational students who learned “Circuit Analysis by Mesh Current Method. ” Students received the feedback as they learned the modules on web-based. Then, to study students’ satisfaction on learning the modules. The treatment variable was four types of feedback. The sample was 68 first year students in vocational collage. They were divided into four groups. Six modules of learning, questionnaire and test were developed. The modules were commented by experts for quality. The test was trial with 20 students. The reliability was KR20 = . 97. Each group received learning module on web together with one type of feedback. The data was collected and analyzed by two ways analysis of variance (Two ways ANOVA). It was found that the score of each group on post-test increased more than pretest significantly. Group 1 who received feedback as explanation before test and private displayed gain the highest score. Group 4 who received the explanation after test and public displayed received the least gain score. Feedback on difference time showed effect on their score significantly but method of display the result showed no effects significantly.
Behavioral Responses to Notches: Evidence from Pakistani Tax Records∗

Using administrative tax records from Pakistan, we investigate behavioral responses to notches created by discontinuous jumps in income tax liability. Notches introduce very strong incentives for bunching on the low-tax side and density holes on the high-tax side of cutoff points. We develop a method for estimating structural earnings elasticities with respect to the marginal tax rate using moments of the density distribution around notch points, and show that notches offer an ideal opportunity to estimate structural elasticities in a world where optimization frictions are important. We provide evidence of large and sharp bunching below notch points along with missing mass above notch points. Moreover, observed bunching is strongly attenuated by frictions as a large share of individuals are unresponsive even in strictly dominated regions above notches. The evidence of bunching and frictions is used to estimate long-run responses not attenuated by frictions. The implied earnings responses to notches are very large, but the underlying structural elasticities driving those responses are small. This finding shows the strongly distortionary nature of notched incentive schemes. We also present evidence on income shifting between wage income and self-employment income using notches, and consider a tax reform that facilitates a comparison between notches and kinks. ∗We would like to thank Rashid Amjad, Tony Atkinson, Oriana Bandiera, Tim Besley, Michael Best, Richard Blundell, Raj Chetty, Estelle Dauchy, Roger Gordon, Adnan Khan, Wojciech Kopczuk, Ben Olken, Torsten Persson, Thomas Piketty, Dina Pomeranz, Imran Rasul, Emmanuel Saez, Monica Singhal, Joel Slemrod, Johannes Spinnewijn, and numerous seminar participants for helpful comments and discussions. Financial support from the International Growth Centre (IGC), Pakistan Programme is gratefully acknowledged. Corresponding author: Henrik Kleven, Department of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. E-mail: h.j.kleven@lse.ac. uk.
Learning from Demonstrations and Human Evaluative Feedbacks: Handling Sparsity and Imperfection Using Inverse Reinforcement Learning Approach

Programming by demonstrations is one of the most efficient methods for knowledge transfer to develop advanced learning systems, provided that teachers deliver abundant and correct demonstrations, and learners correctly perceive them. Nevertheless, demonstrations are sparse and inaccurate in almost all real-world problems. Complementary information is needed to compensate these shortcomings of demonstrations. In this paper, we target programming by a combination of nonoptimal and sparse demonstrations and a limited number of binary evaluative feedbacks, where the learner uses its own evaluated experiences as new demonstrations in an extended inverse reinforcement learning method. This provides the learner with a broader generalization and less regret as well as robustness in face of sparsity and nonoptimality in demonstrations and feedbacks. Our method alleviates the unrealistic burden on teachers to provide optimal and abundant demonstrations. Employing an evaluative feedback, which is easy for teachers to deliver, provides the opportunity to correct the learner’s behavior in an interactive social setting without requiring teachers to know and use their own accurate reward function. Here, we enhance the inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) to estimate the reward function using a mixture of nonoptimal and sparse demonstrations and evaluative feedbacks. Our method, called IRL from demonstration and human’s critique (IRLDC), has two phases. The teacher first provides some demonstrations for the learner to initialize its policy. Next, the learner interacts with the environment and the teacher provides binary evaluative feedbacks. Taking into account possible inconsistencies and mistakes in issuing and receiving feedbacks, the learner revises the estimated reward function by solving a single optimization problem. The IRLDC is devised to handle errors and sparsities in demonstrations and feedbacks and can generalize different combinations of these two sources expertise. We apply our method to three domains: a simulated navigation task, a simulated car driving problem with human interactions, and a navigation experiment of a mobile robot. The results indicate that the IRLDC significantly enhances the learning process where the standard IRL methods fail and learning from feedbacks (LfF) methods has a high regret. Also, the IRLDC works well at different levels of sparsity and optimality of the teacher’s demonstrations and feedbacks, where other state-of-the-art methods fail.
Preclinical safety evaluation of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells against CD19 in NSG mice.

Background With the increase of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cell therapy, serious complications initiated by CAR-T cells have garnered wide attention. We have previously developed a 4-1BB/CD3-ζ-costimulated CAR-T cells against CD19 (CART19) for adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In this study, a preclinical safety assessment of CART19 was performed on NSG mice, to evaluate the preclinical toxicity along with its efficacy and tissue distribution. Methods A total of 120 NSG mice were used for a combined pharmacodynamics and toxicity study for 56 days. Ninety-six mice of which were single dosed with Raji-Luc (5×105 per animal, i.p.) and different concentrations of CART19 (0.2×107, 0.6×107 and 1.8×107 per animal, i.v.), while the rest were assigned to the Untreated group. Optical intensity of Raji-Luc in mice, clinical symptoms, body mass, hematological analysis, humanized cytokine, lymphocyte subset counting, necropsy and histopathological examinations were performed. In addition, a single dose of 0.6×107 CART19 was intravenously administered to 48 NSG mice, and the distribution of CART19 in different tissues was analyzed using quantitative PCR. Results CART19 is widely distributed in organs well-perfused with blood, including the lungs, blood, bone marrow, liver and spleen. Significant proliferation of CART19 was also found in the blood by through recognition using humanized CD3+ for T lymphocytes. The survival rate and leukemia related clinical symptoms in mice administered CART19 were markedly ameliorated, and the proliferation of Raji cells in mice was effectively inhibited. However, CART19 had no obvious effects on either the mean body mass or the blood cell counts, and no cytokine release syndrome and graft versus host disease were observed. Conclusions NSG mice given CART19 treatment demonstrated a longer survival period without significant immunotoxicity, suggesting encouraging clinical prospects for CART19 in patients with R/R ALL. Our study shed light on evaluation and supervision strategies for CAR-T products for the treatment of hematological diseases or leukemia.
LIFE COURSE CENTRE WORKING PAPER SERIES Sources of Ethnicity Differences in Non-Cognitive Development in Children and Adolescents

In most multi-cultural Anglo-Saxon countries, children of Asian immigrants have higher academic achievement than children of native-born parents. Yet, little is known about their relative non-cognitive performance. This study is the first to compare the noncognitive skills of children of Asian immigrants and children of native-born Australian parents and seek to understand the evolution of non-cognitive skills. We find large differences in non-cognitive skill development between children of Asian immigrants and children of parents from other ethnicity groups. Furthermore, the nativity gaps in noncognitive skills vary significantly by informants of non-cognitive skills, types of noncognitive skills and children’s ages. According to teacher ratings, children of Asian immigrants are found to excel in almost all non-cognitive attributes, particularly after school entry ages. By contrast, Asian immigrant parents rated their children lower in some selected non-cognitive attributes and at early ages. Adopting a cumulative value-added regression model and an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method, this paper shows differences in initial child non-cognitive abilities, parenting styles and children’s time allocations are the most important factors explaining the ethnic non-cognitive skill gap. Moreover, ethnic differences in parenting styles and children’s time allocations both contribute to reducing the ethnic gap in non-cognitive skills. By contrast, differences in other child or household characteristics explain very little of the ethnic non-cognitive skill gap.
A Comprehensive Review of Additive Manufacturing in Construction of Electrical Machines

Additive manufacturing (AM) has been undergoing dynamic development in recent years. The latest evolution of AM has been recognised as a key enabling technology in a wide range of applications, some of which include medical, aerospace and automotive industries. The use of AM opens new avenues for design solutions, otherwise challenging or impossible to realise when using more conventional techniques for manufacture. No- or low-material waste and high-flexibility are some of the attributes of modern AM. This expanded paper aims to provide an up to date overview of the existing examples of employing AM in construction of electrical machines. The paper reviews research and development work related to all integral components of an electrical machine assembly. These include active parts like coils/windings, electrical insulation, stator/rotor magnetic core packs, permanent magnets (PMs). The machine structural/mechanical and thermal management components are also discussed in the paper. Further to these, the authors make some comments/forecasts on how the AM could improve performance and manufacturability of the future electrical machines.
Worsening urban ozone pollution in China from 2013 to 2017 – Part 1: The complex and varying roles of meteorology

China has suffered from increasing levels of ozone pollution in urban areas despite the implementation of various stringent emission reduction measures since 2013. In this study, we conducted numerical experiments with an up-todate regional chemical transport model to assess the contribution of the changes in meteorological conditions and anthropogenic emissions to the summer ozone level from 2013 to 2017 in various regions of China. The model can faithfully reproduce the observed meteorological parameters and air pollutant concentrations and capture the increasing trend in the surface maximum daily 8 h average (MDA8) ozone (O3) from 2013 to 2017. The emission-control measures implemented by the government induced a decrease in MDA8 O3 levels in rural areas but an increase in urban areas. The meteorological influence on the ozone trend varied by region and by year and could be comparable to or even more significant than the impact of changes in anthropogenic emissions. Meteorological conditions can modulate the ozone concentration via direct (e.g., increasing reaction rates at higher temperatures) and indirect (e.g., increasing biogenic emissions at higher temperatures) effects. As an essential source of volatile organic compounds that contributes to ozone formation, the variation in biogenic emissions during summer varied across regions and was mainly affected by temperature. China’s midlatitude areas (25 to 40 N) experienced a significant decrease in MDA8 O3 due to a decline in biogenic emissions, especially for the Yangtze River Delta and Sichuan Basin regions in 2014 and 2015. In contrast, in northern (north of 40 N) and southern (south of 25 N) China, higher temperatures after 2013 led to an increase in MDA8 O3 via an increase in biogenic emissions. We also assessed the individual effects of changes in temperature, specific humidity, wind field, planetary boundary layer height, clouds, and precipitation on ozone levels from 2013 to 2017. The results show that the wind field change made a significant contribution to the increase in surface ozone over many parts of China. The long-range transport of ozone and its precursors from outside the modeling domain also contributed to the increase in MDA8 O3 in China, especially on the Qinghai– Tibetan Plateau (an increase of 1 to 4 ppbv). Our study represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the impact of changes in meteorology on ozone across China and highlights the importance of considering meteorological variations when assessing the effectiveness of emission control on changes in the ozone levels in recent years.
Effect of lysine treatment on the properties of linear low-density polyethylene/poly (vinyl alcohol)/kenaf composites

Kenaf (KNF) was treated at room temperature with the amino acid lysine. The surface treatment of KNF using lysine was studied for the first time on prepared composites with linear low-density polyethylene, poly(vinyl alcohol), and kenaf. The LLDPE/PVOH/KNF composites with different loadings of lysine-treated and untreated KNF were studied at levels of 10, 20, and 40 parts per hundred resin (phr). The melt mixing of all the composites were prepared by using an internal mixer for 10 min at a temperature and rotor speed of 150 °C and 50 rpm, respectively. The results showed that tensile strength and tensile modulus were improved for the lysine-treated KNF composites compared to the untreated KNF composites. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed the presence of protonated amino (NH3+) and carboxylate (COO-) groups in the LLDPE/PVOH/KNF composites after the lysine treatment. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed good adhesion between the lysine treated KNF and the LLDPE/PVOH matrices. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the lysine treated KNF composites possessed a higher thermal stability than the untreated KNF composites.
The effect of financial leverage on real and accrual-based earnings management in Vietnamese firms

DOI: 10.14254/2071789X.2019/12-4/18 ABSTRACT. Our research examines the effect of leverage on the form and extent of earnings management in Vietnamese listed firms. We use panel data of 241 companies on Vietnam stock markets in the period from 2010 to 2016 (1687 firm-years) and conduct GMM regression. Four models are employed to estimate the level of discretional accruals and real earnings management. Our research finds a positive relationship between leverage and earnings management, which is consistent to “debt hypothesis”. Furthermore, a preference for real earnings management over accrualbased earnings management is observed among highly leverage firms. The findings notice the substitution between these two forms of earnings management and reinforce full attention to both accrual-based earnings management and real activities manipulations rather than to separated earnings management strategy.
Phylogenetic analysis of transparent gobies in three Sumatran lakes, inferred from mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene

Roesma DI, Tjong DH, Aidil DR. 2020. Phylogenetic analysis of transparent gobies in three Sumatran lakes, inferred from mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene. Biodiversitas 21: 43-48. The transparent gobies fish found in three lakes in Sumatra island is known as Rinuak fish (in Maninjau Lake and Singkarak Lake, West Sumatra, Indonesia) or Badar fish (in Siais Lake, North Sumatra, Indonesia), and are morphologically very similar to the Gobiopterus brachypterus. The phylogenetic study was carried out by analyzing 619 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in 12 fish individuals from the three lakes. Rinuak and Badar fish in three populations have four haplotypes. The sequence divergences in and between populations are very low (0.0-0.5%). This value indicates that Rinuak and Badar fish are the same species with low genetic diversity. The phylogenetic tree illustrates that this fish belongs to the group of Gobiidae and a sister taxon from G. brachypterus.
The psychology of music in Poland: Theoretical considerations and current directions in empirical research

The psychology of music has a long tradition and continues to develop both in Poland and abroad. The current issue of Roczniki Psychologiczne [Annals of Psychology] is devoted to topics related to the scientific study of music, addressed by Polish scholars from different research units. In the current introductory article we aim to describe the context in which the psychological study of music develops. Assuming that the psychology of music is a science dealing relationships between music and human listeners, performers, or composers, we explain the meaning of that notion, presenting the characteristics of such relations. We also describe the beginnings and development of the psychology of music in Poland and abroad, introducing the main goals of this multidisciplinary and integrative science. Finally, we present the contents of the current issue of Roczniki Psychologiczne [Annals of Psychology].
Negative arousability and relationship satisfaction: The mediating role of empathy

Temperamental traits and empathy are both associated with emotional regulation; they thus shape both the quality of an individual’s life and the functioning of his or her social relationships. However, the mediating effects of emotional empathy in the relationship between temperamental characteristics and relationship satisfaction have not been closely analyzed and therefore require further study. This study examined the effects of temperamental arousability – global negative arousability and its components (fear, sadness, discomfort, frustration) – on emotional empathy and, consequently, on relationship satisfaction. One hundred and fifty young adults (104 women, 46 men) aged 20 to 35 participated in the study. The participants had been in romantic relationships for at least six months. The study used a sociodemographic survey and a set of questionnaires which included the Adult Temperament Questionnaire – Short Form, the Empathic Sensitiveness Scale and the RELAT Questionnaire. The results showed that empathic concern fully mediated the relationship between global negative arousability and relationship satisfaction. Furthermore, the effects of fear and sadness on relationship satisfaction were fully mediated by empathic concern and personal distress. Additionally, personal distress fully mediated the relationship between discomfort and relationship satisfaction. Neither empathic concern nor personal distress were mediators in the relationship between frustration and relationship satisfaction. It can therefore be concluded that although partners who exhibit higher global negative arousability report lower relationship satisfaction, they might become more satisfied when being more compassionate and caring towards others.