Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How a doer persuade a donor? Investigating the moderating effects of behavioral biases in donor acceptance of donation crowdfunding

The concept of donation crowdfunding has been drawing enormous attention as it connects donors worldwide in a shorter time at a relatively lower cost. This paper aims to integrate two unified theories, namely, behavioral finance and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, to investigate on the motivators and deterrents that influence prospective donors to adopt and use donation crowdfunding. The study also substantiates the significance of donors’ behavioral biases through the moderating effect in the crowdfunding adoption process. ,The study used survey method for data collection and the data set was obtained from the sample of respondents belonging to India and Bangladesh. The proposed structural equation modeling is tested using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0. ,The study reveals that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and trust significantly enhance the intention to adopt donation crowdfunding. Also, biases including overconfidence bias, herding bias and regret aversion bias are found to have significant moderating effects on the relationship between the behavioral intention to adopt donation crowdfunding and use behavior. ,By investigating motivators and deterrents of the adoption of donation crowdfunding, the study renders lucrative insights for the donation crowdfunders in devising a donation fundraising campaign that motivates the prospective donors to provide financial contribution. ,The study establishes its novelty in explaining the adoption behavior of donation crowdfunding with behavioral bias moderators as a theoretical paradigm. Furthermore, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model is extended by introducing, the variable “trust,” while studying the adoption behavior of donation crowdfunding.
Alcohol, deterrence, and crime: causality and policy lessons from Korea

ABSTRACT The relationship between alcohol use, crime and public policy interventions is a pressing area of study in the policy sciences. This article compares the effects of alcohol price control policies and crime deterrence policies by type of crime through a case study of South Korea. Specifically, an instrumental variable was introduced to address the problem of endogeneity between alcohol consumption and crime. Instead of using the alcohol tax rate, this study’s instrumental variable was derived from the vertical restraint structure of the Korean distilled liquor industry. The results of the study’s empirical analysis show a significant and negative relationship between the arrest rate and violent, property, and economic crimes. Alcohol consumption is observed to have a positive relationship with violent crime only. Additionally, prevention activities deployed by the police were found to have a negative relationship with property crime, while the prosecution rate was determined to have a negative relationship with economic crime. Furthermore, as opposed to deterrence policies, an alcohol control policy through higher alcohol tax rates emerged as more effective for reducing alcohol-related crime, and a specific rate tax was found to be more effective than an ad valorem tax for deterring alcohol-related crime.
Study of EGNOS safety of life service during the period of solar maximum activity

ABSTRACT The Satellite Base Augmentation System (SBAS) - EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) has been certified for Safety of Life (SoL) service for aircraft navigation since 2nd of March 2011. Unfortunately for the territory of Poland, located at the edge of EGNOS service area, the quality of the service corrections are still not sufficient for aircraft navigation requirements. Years 2012 and 2013 are forecasted as a maximum of solar activity in a 11-year solar cycle. This time period will be the chance to perform the first tests for the EGNOS Safety of Life service quality in disturbed ionospheric conditions. During the previous maximum of solar activity, the storm on 30 October 2003 resulted in the inability to use WAAS corrections for more than 12 hours. This was caused by a very large gradient of disturbances and its’ very sharp boundaries - vertical TEC (VTEC) varied from ~ 40 to ~ 120 TECU (TEC units) within an hour (over ~ 150 km distance). These circumstances gave the opportunity to carry out the test flights to examine the navigation parameters obtained for EGNOS SoL service in disturbed ionospheric conditions. The paper presents project proposal of study and analyses of such fundamental navigation parameters as: accuracy of determined position, availability, continuity and integrity, determined for selected disturbances in relation to quiet conditions. It can give a possibility to estimate of the quality of EGNOS SoL service in Polish airspace during the different phases of flight and its resistance to critical ionospheric conditions.
Utilisation of the Internet for Cyberloafing Activities among University Students

Accepted: 23 Apr. 2021 Cyberloafing, described as students use of the internet for non-class related purposes during the instructional period, has been shown to have significant negative influence on scholastic attainments (e.g., Wu, Mei & Ugrin, 2018). As the practice of cyberloafing becomes entrenched, students are likely to carry such behaviours to their workplaces, and subsequently affect performance and productivity of the labour force. This study explored cyberloafing activities among university students. The parameters of investigation were the frequency, kinds, gender issues and the factors that give birth to cyberloafing during the instructional period. The study employed the descriptive survey design and questionnaire was used for data collection. A total of 140 students randomly selected from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, participated in the study. The findings were that cyberloafing is pervasive among university students. However, student cyberloafing engagements are predominantly narrowed to specific activities such as online-chatting, listening to the news and sending and receiving emails. Respondents further indicated varied reinforcers of cyberloafing emerging from the actions of lecturers, learners, the course and the learning environment. It was recommended that the university, in collaboration with stakeholders adopt effective ways to curb the current phenomenon of cyberloafing in schools before they turn into unmanageable behaviours.
Metabolic Syndrome in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Medicine Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT Introduction: The best recognized systemic manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease include, cardiovascular co-morbidities, cachexia and muscle dysfunction, osteoporosis, anemia, and clinical depression and anxiety. This study was undertaken to find the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients who were admitted in the medicine department of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in the medicine department of Nepal Medical College and teaching hospital between October 2009 and January 2010. Ethical approval was taken from the Intitutional Review Committee. Convenience sampling technique was used. All chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients were included. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate baseline characteristics. Point estimate at 90% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of 84 patients, the period prevalence of metabolic syndrome is 30 (35.71%) (29.80-40.20 at 90% Confidence Interval) as per the definition by International Diabetes Federation 2006 for South Asians. Among them, 35 (41.67%) were male and 49 (58.33% ) were female. Eight (9.5%) were of age between 40-49 years, 11 (13.1%) between 50-59 years, 27 (32.1%) between 60-69 years and 38 (45.2%) of 70 years and above. Conclusions: The study showed that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was found to be lower than the previous study done in similar settings.
Perceptual-Motor Skills Reconstruction Program Improves Executive Functions in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Objective: Many children suffering from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show problems in executive functions (EF), which reflect neuronal pathways from perception to controlled action. Treatment approaches that improve executive functions may prevent a negative cycle of failures in students. Hence, this research aims to study the efficacy of the perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program on EF in children with ADHD while considering cognitive flexibility, abstract verbal skills, response inhibition, and working memory. Also, its effect on clinical ADHD symptoms should be considered. Method: The research design included pretest, posttest, and a follow-up after six months. The sample included third-grade school children with ADHD (50 students, aged 8–10 years, boys and girls) who were referred to the Child Psychology Clinic, Iran, Mashhad 2018–2019. After clinical assessment for ADHD, children were randomly assigned to an experimental (n = 25) and a waiting control (n = 25) group. The experimental group received the perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program for 16 sessions (three times per week, i.e., five weeks and one session in the sixth week). Delis–Kaplan executive function system (D-KEFS) was applied at three measurement points (M1–3) in order to test for changes over time. Results: Data analysis (analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with post-hoc-testing) showed that there was a significantly better performance of experimental versus waiting control group at posttest (M2) and follow-up (M3) for cognitive flexibility (t(24) = 4.9, df = 14, p < 0.0001), abstract verbal skills (t(24) = 3.5, df = 14, p < 0.004), response inhibition (t(24) = 7.54, df = 14, p < 0.0001) and working memory (t(24) = 12.69, df = 14, p < 0.004). Further, Conners-Scales-Score improved for the experimental group. Conclusions: Training with perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program clearly improved the trained variables (i.e., cognitive flexibility, abstract verbal skills, response inhibition, and working memory) and clinical symptoms of the children with ADHD. The obtained training may lead in practice to better preconditions for successfully handling daily tasks at school and in society.
High irradiation and low discharge promote the dominant role of phytoplankton in riverine nutrient dynamics

Rivers play a relevant role in the nutrient turnover during the transport from land to ocean. Here, highly dynamic planktonic processes are more important compared to streams making it necessary to link the dynamics of nutrient turnover to control mechanisms of phytoplankton. We investigated the basic conditions leading to high phytoplankton biomass and corresponding nutrient dynamics in eutrophic, 8th order River Elbe (Germany). In a first step, we performed six Lagrangian sampling campaigns in the lower river section at different hydrological conditions. While nutrient concentrations remained high at low algal densities in autumn and at moderate discharge in summer, high algal concentrations occurred at low discharge in summer. Under these conditions, concentrations of silica and nitrate decreased and rates of nitrate assimilation were high. Soluble reactive phosphorus was depleted and particulate phosphorus increased inversely. Rising molar C:P ratios of seston indicated a phosphorus limitation of phytoplankton, so far rarely observed in eutrophic large rivers. Global radiation combined with mixing depth had a strong predictive power to explain maximum chlorophyll concentration. In a second step, we estimated nutrient turnover exemplarily for N during the campaign with the lowest discharge based on mass balances and metabolism‐based process measurements. Mass balance calculations revealed a total nitrate uptake of 423 mg N m−2d−1. Increasing phytoplankton density dominantly explained whole river gross primary production and related assimilatory nutrient uptake. In conclusion, riverine nutrient uptake strongly depends on the growth conditions for phytoplankton, which are favored at high irradiation and low discharge.
Thermally Driven Amorphous‐Crystalline Phase Transition of Carbonized Polymer Dots for Multicolor Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence

Multicolor carbon dot (CD)‐based nanomaterials offer a variety of opportunities for potential applications in bioimaging, optoelectronic devices, and information security. However, it still remains a challenge to modulate the conjugated π‐structure of CDs to achieve multicolor room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP). Herein, the authors present a strategy based on thermally driven amorphous−crystalline phase transition to achieve multicolor carbonized polymer dots (CPDs) with the emission color tunable from green to orange‐red. This is the first report on multicolor RTP emission from CDs by means of thermal stimulus. Further investigations reveal that the formation of self‐protective covalently crosslinked frameworks and codoping of multiple heteroatoms play a crucial role in the production of RTP. RTP color tunability can be attributed to different crystalline contents of the conjugated π‐domain within CPDs. Potential application of the developed CPDs as printable and writable security inks for advanced multilevel anti‐counterfeiting and encryption is demonstrated. This work paves a path for the development of multicolor RTP materials and suggests great potential of CDs in exploiting novel optical materials toward intriguing applications.
A Review of Explainable Deep Learning Cancer Detection Models in Medical Imaging

Deep learning has demonstrated remarkable accuracy analyzing images for cancer detection tasks in recent years. The accuracy that has been achieved rivals radiologists and is suitable for implementation as a clinical tool. However, a significant problem is that these models are black-box algorithms therefore they are intrinsically unexplainable. This creates a barrier for clinical implementation due to lack of trust and transparency that is a characteristic of black box algorithms. Additionally, recent regulations prevent the implementation of unexplainable models in clinical settings which further demonstrates a need for explainability. To mitigate these concerns, there have been recent studies that attempt to overcome these issues by modifying deep learning architectures or providing after-the-fact explanations. A review of the deep learning explanation literature focused on cancer detection using MR images is presented here. The gap between what clinicians deem explainable and what current methods provide is discussed and future suggestions to close this gap are provided.
Comovements in the real activity of developed and emerging economies: A test of global versus specific international factors

Although globalization has shaped the world economy in recent decades, emerging economies have experienced impressive growth compared to developed economies, suggesting specific comovements within developed and emerging business cycles. Using observed developed and emerging real economy activity variables, we investigate whether the latter assertion can be supported by observed data. Based on a two-level factor model, we assume these activity variables can be decomposed into global components, emerging or developed common components, and idiosyncratic national shocks. We propose a statistical test for the null hypothesis of a one-level specification, where it is irrelevant to distinguish between emerging and developed latent factors against the two-level alternative. This paper provides a theoretical justification and Monte Carlo simulations that document the testing procedure. An application of the test to various datasets of developed and emerging countries leads to strong statistical evidence of specific comovements within these two groups.
Revealing temptation through menu choice : field evidence

In a field study with participants in a weight loss challenge, I use the menu choice approach of Gul and Pesendorfer (2001) to explore the extent to which preference for smaller menus may “reveal” temptation. Focusing on the temptation to eat unhealthy, I elicit participants’ preferences over a set of lunch reimbursement options (“the menus”), which differed in the range of foods covered. I extract information from the entire ordering to develop measures of temptation allowing to study its source, strength and structure, and validate those measures with survey data. Finally, I test whether temptation measured through menu choice predicts other behaviors that could be symptomatic of self-control problems, such as take-up of, and performance on, a goal setting contract. I find that choices to restrict the coverage are very common and generally target the foods rated as most tempting and unhealthy. Furthermore, the structure of commitment choices appears largely consistent with the restrictions imposed by the theory. Finally, those who revealed their temptation through menu choice were more likely to take up the contract and less likely to achieve their goals. The elicitation of menu preferences thus offers a promising venue for measuring self-control problems. JEL Classification Numbers: C93, D03, I12.
Anti-quorum Sensing Potential of Ageratum Conyzoides L. (Asteraceae) Extracts

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes infections in human particularly immunocompromised patients with cystic fibrosis, severe burns and HIV, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. The pathogenic bacteria P aeruginosa produces virulence factors regulated by the mechanism called quorum sensing system. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the anti-quorum sensing activity of Ageratum conyzoides extracts Method: Chromobacterium violaceum reporter strain CV026 was used to highlight any interference with bacterium QS and strains derived from P. aeruginosa PAO1 were used to reveal any interference with the expression of quorum sensing genes, and to assess any impact of extract on the kinetics of the production of pyocyanin, elastases and biofilm formation. Results: Hydro-methanolic extract at the sub-inhibitory concentration of 100 μg/mL reduced quorum sensing virulence factors production such as, pyocyanin, elastases, rhamnolipids and biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa PAO1 after 18 hours monitoring. Extract showed significant inhibition in HSL-mediated violacein production on C. violaceum CV026 after 48 hours monitoring. Biofilm formation was inhibited up to 32%. It affected QS gene expression in PAO1. The regulatory genes lasR / rhlR and the lasI synthases were most affected. At 8hours, hydro-methanolic extract reduced both QS gene to more than 30% (lasI/lasR and rhlI/R respectively 33.8% /30.2% and 36% /33.2%). RhlA and lasB genes have been relatively affected (13.4% and 28.9%). After 18 h, this extract reduced significantly the expression of regulatory 30 genes lasR (31%) and rhlR (39.6%) although synthases genes seemed to be less affected (lasI/21.2% and rhlI/11.6%). A limited impact was observed on the downstream genes (lasB /20.0% and rhlA /15.3%). No negative impact was observed on CV026 and PAO1 growth and cell viability. Our study also showed that A. conyzoides having ample amount of phenolics, flavonoids and triterpenoids. This phytochemical content could be one of the factors for showing anti quorum potential. Conclusion: Results indicate that hydro methanol 80 % extract from A. conyzoides could be a source of potential QS inhibition compounds.
Emerging Pattern of Women Empowerment in Saudi Arabia

According to the Global Gender Gap Index Report of 2020, it is apparent that no Arab country is among the top 10 in terms of gender equality. On the contrary, we can see that there is a high level of gender inequality in the Arab world in general and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in particular. The index is concerned with measuring gender inequality in terms of four main areas: (1) economic participation and opportunity, (2) educational attainment, (3) health and survival, and (4) political empowerment. It is based on calculating the gender-based gaps between men and women in all the countries of the world, whether developed or developing. By region, the Arab world comes at the bottom of the ranking. This indicates that Arab countries have made the least progress on gender equality. According to the figures in the report, which benchmarks 153 countries, Saudi Arabia is ranked 146, putting it among the lowest 10 countries along with Oman, Lebanon, Chad, Iran, Congo, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Yemen in terms of gender performance. As an example, women make up only 16% of the labor force in Saudi Arabia, which is considered the lowest in the world. The deteriorating picture reflected in the report, which definitely has negative impacts on development plans in Arab countries, highlights the importance of the role of policymakers in the Arab world in supporting women’s issues, considering their challenges, and devising strategies to ensure women’s empowerment, autonomy, and equal political representation. The purpose of this study is thus to propose an integrated model for the empowerment of women in Saudi Arabia that can be adopted by decision-makers and policymakers in the Kingdom. The model is based on the analysis of the current position of women in Saudi society, gender equality, and women's empowerment. The ultimate goal is to provide a coherent system that defines the policies and procedures that should be adopted to achieve sustainable development goals and objectives. The rationale for focusing on Saudi Arabia is that the recent years have witnessed the development of new changes in the Saudi policies towards women’s rights and their
The Effect of Digital Marketing on Purchasing Decisions: A Case Study in Jordan

The main objective of this research was to analyze the influence of digital marketing on purchasing decisions. The research was guided by specific aims; to evaluate numerous digital marketing platforms in Jordan that can affect the purchasing decisions and identify product categories purchased by customers on digital media platforms. Furthermore, questionnaires were given based on a simple sampling technique and acquired in the Jordanian market. 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 220 available samples were gathered, except for incomplete questionnaires, resulting in a 73% response rate to all those who selected to participate. Descriptive analysis, reliability test, correlation test, and multiple regressions were used in this research. Moreover, this study’s results demonstrated that digital marketing, such as social media marketing and mobile marketing, has a profound impact on consumer purchasing decisions. However, hypothesis testing demonstrated that there are many patronized digital media platforms in Jordan that affect student behavior. Jordanian students buy various product categories on digital media platforms, and digital marketing affects student decision–making. Finally, the results of this study suggest that firms should adopt strategies to leverage the digital world and technology, increase brand awareness through digital platforms to continue competing in today’s commercial environment.