Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
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Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education This paper studies whether structural properties of friendship networks affect individual outcomes in education. We first develop a model that shows that, at the Nash equilibrium, the outcome of each individual embedded in a network is proportional to her Katz-Bonacich centrality measure. This measure takes into account both direct and indirect friends of each individual but puts less weight to her distant friends. We then bring the model to the data by using a very detailed dataset of adolescent friendship networks. We show that, after controlling for observable individual characteristics and unobservable network specific factors, the individual’s position in a network (as measured by her Katz-Bonacich centrality) is a key determinant of her level of activity. A standard deviation increase in the Katz-Bonacich centrality increases the pupil school performance by more than 7 percent of one standard deviation. JEL Classification: A14, C31, C72, I21
Toxicity of Bioresmethrin on the Developmental Stages and Larval Biochemistry of Rice-Moth , Corcyra cephalonica Staint , ( Lepidoptera : Pyralidae )

Larvicidal and pupicidal effects of bioresmethrin were investigated on the third instar larvae of ricemoth, Corcyra cephalonica (Staint). The observations revealed that 0.0008% dose level of bioresmethrin caused 100% larval mortality. In addition, sublethal doses (0.0001%, 0.0002% and 0.0003%) of bioresmethrin caused a significant dose-dependent reduction in the total protein content, DNA, RNA, RNA/DNA ratio, glycogen and in the activity of alkaline phosphatase and a significant dose-dependent enhancement in the levels of total free amino acids, reducing sugar and in the activity of acid phophatase in haemolymph and fat body tissues of the larva of rice-moth, C. cephalonica.
Benefits of rural-urban interactions for sustainable food security in Iran

Cities and rural areas, as two human settlements, have long interacted with each other, and these interactions have many benefits for producing better products and food security. However, despite the importance of benefits in rural-urban interaction, identifying, improving, and investing them in rural areas of Iran has always been neglected. Therefore, in addition to identifying the benefits of interactions, this study investigates the causal relationship between them and sustainable food security in villages in the southeast Tehran province in Iran. Four hundred questionnaires were completed among farmers by simple random sampling. The findings, conducted in a descriptive-analytical and questionnairebased manner, show the positive effect of rural-urban interactions on sustainable food security. The product transport variable has the most significant impact, and agricultural services and production support have a negligible effect on sustainable food security. Villagers' access to roads (proximity to farms), suitable ways to deliver agricultural and non-agricultural products to the city, warehousing, refrigeration, and packaging services, widening roads between farms, and market access are the key factors influencing food security.
Antioxidant Properties , Secondary Metabolites and Yield as Affected by Application of Antioxidants and Banana Peel Extract on Roselle Plants

Two field experiments were carried out during two successive seasons (2013 and 2014) at the Experimental Station of National Research Centre, Nubaria district, Beheira Governorate, Egypt to compare the physiological role of foliar application of different antioxidants as tryptophan at 50 &100 mg/l, potassium (potassium nitrate) at 100 mg/l, t-cinnamic acid (200 & 400 mg/l) and banana peel extract at 5% and 10% concentrations on yield quantity and quality of Roselle sepals. All treatments significantly increased yield components such as number of fruits/plant, fresh & dry weights of fruits/plant, fresh and dry weights of sepals/plant as compared with those of the untreated plants. Banana peel extract was the most effective treatment followed by t-cinnamic acid followed by tryptophan then potassium nitrate. Different treatments increased significantly activities of phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL) and tyrosine ammonialyase (TAL) enzymes, phenolic and anthocyanins contents of Roselle leaves. Various treatments increased significantly phenolics and nutritive phytochemical components (ascorbic acid, anthocyanins, flavonoids, tannins) and antioxidant activities of sepals, while they mostly decreased titratable acidity as compared with control plants. Different treatments increased markedly total soluble sugars and different sugar fractions as compared with those of the control plants. It is worthy to mention that banana peel extract treatments had more pronounced effect than other different treatments.
Decolourisation of Disperse Brown Dye Solution by Electrocoagulation Process with Al and Fe Electrodes

Dyes used in the textile industry can easily contaminate water and are becoming a world-wide pollution problem. The efficiency of colour removal process from artificially prepared and actual textile wastewater using electrocoagulation (EC) was investigated in this study. A disperse dye was selected for the synthetic dye wastewater experiments. Different operating conditions such as dye concentration, pH, conductivity values and current density (CD) were investigated using synthetically prepared dye solution in a batch EC reactor with parallel-connected electrodes. EC optimum working conditions for decolourisation rate of 50 mg/L synthetic dye solution were found as current density of 30-37.5 mA/cm 2 , conductivity value of 1 mS/cm, pH value of 7.5 at 25 o C for both Al and Fe electrodes in this experimental work. Additionally, a real textile wastewater was tested at similar experimental conditions achieved with synthetic dye solution using a batch EC reactor. Dye removal rate was achieved as %80 with real wastewater with energy consumption of 9.16 kWh /m 3 .
THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES OF FIRMS , MARKETS , AND CONTRACTS : A UNIFIED THEORY

The most efficient labor market mechanism depends on the advantages of specialization, workers’ costs of switching between entrepreneurs, and the frequency with which needs change. Multilateral mechanisms are more efficient when specialization is more advantageous, when it is cheap for workers to switch between entrepreneurs, and when individual entrepreneurs cannot occupy a worker on a full-time basis. Given a bilateral mechanism, employment (a firm) is more efficient than contracts when inprocess adjustments arise more frequently. There exists three regions in which firms, markets, and sequences of bilateral contracts are weakly more efficient than all other mechanisms in a big class.
Nickel removal from low permeable kaolin soil under unenhanced and EDTA-enhanced electrokinetic process

This paper represents a set of experimental tests on remediation of nickel-contaminated kaolin by Electrokinetic method. For this purpose, we conducted unenhanced and EDTA-enhanced Electrokinetic tests in one, three, and five days of treatment. In unenhanced tests, we used deionized water as an electrolyte in the anode and the cathode compartments. In the EDTA-enhance tests, we used ethylenediaaminetetra acetic acid 0.1 Molar in the cathode and sodium hydroxide 0.1 Molar in the anode. The average nickel removal for unenhanced tests after three and five days of treatment was 19 and 23 percent, respectively. High buffer capacity of the soil is responsible for low removal efficiency in the unenhanced tests, which maintained pH close to the initial amount that restrained nickel as an adsorbed or precipitated forms. The average nickel removal for EDTA-unenhanced tests after three and five days of treatment was 22 and 12 percent, respectively. Lower ionic mobility of EDTA-Ni complex in comparison with Ni +2 , which is the main transportation mechanism for this complex, could be responsible for less removal efficiency in EDTAenhanced test.
Transition Metal Oxides on Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites: Evaluation of Physicochemical Properties

Transition metal oxides on reduced graphene oxide (TMO@rGO) nanocomposites were successfully prepared via a very simple one-step solvothermal process, involving the simultaneous (thermal) reduction of graphene oxide to graphene and the deposition of TMO nanoparticles over its surface. Texture and morphology, microstructure, and chemical and surface compositions of the nanocomposites were investigated via scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The results prove that Fe2O3@rGO, CoFe2O4@rGO, and CoO@rGO are obtained by using Fe and/or Co acetates as oxide precursors, with the TMO nanoparticles uniformly anchored onto the surface of graphene sheets. The electrochemical performance of the most promising nanocomposite was evaluated as anode material for sodium ion batteries. The preliminary results of galvanostatic cycling prove that Fe2O3@rGO nanocomposite exhibits better rate capability and stability than both bare Fe2O3 and Fe2O3+rGO physical mixture.
Commercial cows ’ milk has estrogenic activity as revealed by the hypertrophic effects on the uteri of young ovariectomized rats and immature rats

Cows’ milk has considerable amounts of estrogens, mainly in the form of estrone sulfate. To determine whether the commercial milk has any biologically significant hormonal effects, two series of uterotrophic tests were performed, one with young ovariectomized rats and the other with sexually immature rats. Thirty-six rats were used for each test. They were divided into 3 groups of 12 animals each, and were kept for 7 days on powdered chow with one of three drinking solutions: low-fat milk (experimental), artificial milk (negative control), or artificial milk containing estrone sulfate at 100 ng/ml (positive control). At autopsy, both the wet and blotted uterine weights were measured. The cell heights of uterine epithelia in ovariectomized rats were also determined. In each test, the weights of the uteri in the Low-Fat Milk group were significantly greater than those of the respective weights in the Artificial Milk group (p<0.01). Furthermore, in ovariectomized rats, the uterine epithelial-cell height in the Low-Fat Milk group was significantly greater than that observed in the Artificial Milk group (p<0.01). The uterotrophic effect of 100 ng/ml Estrone Sulfate solution was greater than that of Low-Fat Milk in immature rats (p<0.01), whereas the effect of the solution was almost comparable to that of Low-Fat Milk (p>0.05). In conclusion, commercially available low-fat milk has uterotrophic effects in both young ovariectomized rats and sexually immature rats. Introduction Cows’ milk contains considerable amounts of estrogens (estrone, estradiol-17β and estriol) (1). Because of modern dairy practices, 75% of commercial cows’ milk come from cows during pregnancy, when the estrogen levels in their blood, and hence in their milk, are elevated (2). The hormone levels in milk exceed those in blood, probably owing to hormone synthesis in the mammary glands (3). The major estrogen in milk is estrone sulfate (4), which when consumed can be
STUDIES OF HORIZONTAL INSTABILITIES IN THE CERN SPS

In the framework of the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU), beams with double intensity with respect to the present values will have to be successfully accelerated by the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and extracted towards the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, first experience running with intensity higher than the nominal LHC beam has shown that coherent instabilities in the horizontal plane may develop, becoming a potential intensity limitation for the future high intensity operation. To understand the mechanism of these instabilities, the PyHEADTAIL code has been used to check if the SPS impedance model reproduces the observations. The instability growth rates have been studied for different machine models and different chromaticity settings. In addition, the effect of other stabilizing methods, like the octupoles and the transverse damper, has also been investigated. Measurements are presented to benchmark the simulations.
A Comparative Study on Color Removal From Textile Industry Effluent Using Shrimp and Crab Shell Chitosan

Effluent from the textile industry is a major source of water pollution. Textile effluents contain a high amount of color, turbidity, BOD, and COD, which are highly toxic and affect aquatic organisms as well as human beings. Physical and chemical treatments of these effluents are difficult and costly. Adsorption is an effective method to treat textile industry effluent. In the present study, chitosan is selected as an adsorbent, derived from the exoskeleton of marine crustaceans like shrimp and crab by chemical processing. The color was removed using chitosan from shrimp and crab shells separately. On the sixth day of treatment, shrimp shell chitosan removed 100% of color from textile industry effluent and proved to be a better adsorbent.
Gray Matter Brain Alterations in Type 1 Diabetes – Findings Based on Detailed Phenotyping of Neuropathy Status

Abstract Aims This study investigated brain structure in patients of type 1 diabetes with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and type 1 diabetes with neuropathic pain and the associations to clinical, peripheral, and cognitive measurements. Methods Sixty individuals with type 1 diabetes and 20 healthy controls were included in the study. Nineteen individuals with type 1 diabetes and neuropathic pain, 19 with type 1 diabetes and DPN, 18 with type 1 diabetes without DPN, and 20 healthy controls were included in the brain analyses. We utilized structural brain magnetic resonance imaging to investigate total and regional gray matter volume. Results Significant lower gray matter volume was found in type 1 diabetes with neuropathic pain and in type 1 diabetes without DPN compared to healthy controls ( p =0.024 and p =0.019, respectively). Lower insula volume was observed in all three diabetes groups (all p ≤0.050). Thalamus and hippocampus volume was lower in type 1 diabetes with neuropathic pain, cerebellum volume was lower in type 1 diabetes with DPN, and somatosensory cortex volume was lower in type 1 diabetes without DPN (all p ≤0.018). Attenuated memory was associated with lower gray matter volume in type 1 diabetes with DPN. No associations were found between gray matter volume and clinical/peripheral measurements. Conclusion We demonstrated lower gray matter volume in individuals with type 1 diabetes regardless of the presence of DPN and neuropathic pain. Hence, central gray matter alteration was not associated with peripheral alterations.
Holistic versus analytic scoring of spoken-language interpreting: a multi-perspectival comparative analysis

ABSTRACT Rubric scoring has been gaining traction as an emergent method to assess spoken-language interpreting, with two of the most well-known methods being rating scale-based holistic and analytic scoring. While the former provides a single global score, the latter generates separate scores on different dimensions of interpreting performance. Despite the growing use of the two methods, there has been little research documenting their uses in interpreting assessment. We therefore conducted the present study to find out how scoring methods (i.e. holistic versus analytic) would affect the dependability of rater-generated scores, rater behaviour, assessment outcomes, and rater perceptions. Overall, our quantitative data analysis indicates that although the two methods rank-ordered performances similarly, the holistic scoring led to relatively higher score dependability, regardless of interpreting directions, and that the raters’ assessments of interpreting into their less dominant language were less dependable. Our content analysis of the qualitative data reveals raters’ concerns with the substantive meaning of holistic scores and the design of analytic descriptors. We discussed these findings in light of available literature on interpreting assessment. By doing so, we hope to provide some evidential basis for scale selection in rater-mediated assessment of spoken-language interpreting.
The Silencing Power of Algorithms: How the Facebook News Feed Algorithm Manipulates Users’ Perceptions of Opinion Climates

This extended literature review investigates how the architecture and features of the Facebook Newsfeed algorithm, EdgeRank, can inhibit and facilitate the expression of political opinions. This paper will investigate how Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann’s theory on public opinion, Spiral of Silence, can be used to assess the Facebook news feed as a political opinion source that actively shapes users’ perceptions of minority and majority opinion climates. The feedback loops created by the algorithm’s criteria influences users’ decisions to self-censor or express their political opinions with interpersonal connections and unfamiliar connections on the site.
A Broad-Spectrum Antibacterial Activity of Lyophilized Crude Extracts of Bacillus Subtilis against Clinical and Food-Borne Pathogens

The aim of this research is to study the broad spectrum antibacterial activity of crude lyophilized extracts from Bacillus subtilis, then characterize these antibacterial activity. B. subtilis strains were isolated and identified by both API CHB 50 and molecular methods. Staphylococci strains, negative gram bacteria and Candida spp. were isolated from clinical and food samples and identified by biochemical and morphological tests. The crude antibacterial were extracted by flasks containing Lactose Broth LB, which incubated for 72 hours in shaker incubator at 37 o oC at 150 rev/min, then centrifuged 12000 rev/min or 15 min. at 4 oC and filtrated the supernatants through 0.45 μm then frozen and lyophilized. The crude extracts were run on Diamonsil C18 column (5 μm, 250 × 4.6 mm) in HPLC system to separate the antibiotics and run on FTIR spectrum. Some strains of B. subtilis showed high activity against target strains, and others did not. The antibacterial activity of crude lyophilized extracts from B. subtilis (BS1A, BS2D, BS7SH, BS8SH ) against S. aureus strains was between high (16-40 mm) and intermediate (8-14 mm). While the antibacterial activity was intermediate (8-14 mm) against Gram negative and Candida spp. strains. Two kinds of antibiotics were separated from lyophilized extracts of B. subtilis and identified to the peptides families, Bacitracin A and Polymyxin B. Keywords— Antibacterial, Staphylococci, Listeria, Candida, crude, peptide.
The Role of Parental Wealth and Income in Financing Children’s College Attendance and Its Consequences

ABSTRACT This work examines the influence of parental wealth and income on children’s college attendance and parents’ financing decisions and on whether children graduate from college. We also examine whether parental financing affects the subsequent indebtedness of parents and children. We find that higher levels of parents’ wealth and income increase the likelihood that children attend college with financial support relative to not attending college and that parental wealth increases the likelihood that children graduate from college. We show descriptive evidence that parents’ financing of their children’s college attendance increases parents’ subsequent indebtedness but does not reduce their children’s indebtedness, including their student loan debt.
International ring trial to validate a new method for testing the antimicrobial efficacy of domestic laundry products

Due to greater environmental awareness, domestic laundry habits are changing, and antimicrobial control by chemical methods has become an essential factor to compensate for the use of lower temperatures during washing machine cycles. Disinfectants added to laundry detergents are a preventive strategy to reduce the transmission of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in the home, correct aesthetic damage (e.g., spotting, discolouration, and staining), and control the microbial contamination that leads to malodour. In Europe, disinfectants are regulated by the EU Biocidal Products Regulation (No. 528/2012), which stipulates that antimicrobial efficacy must be evaluated according to standardized methods. Current European standards for laundry sanitization only apply to clinical settings (EN 16616: 2015) and are restricted to the main wash cycle. Therefore, there is a gap in the EU standards regarding the testing of product efficacy in household laundering. With the aim of addressing this gap, an international ring trial was organized to evaluate the robustness of a new method (prEN 17658) designed to test the efficacy of antimicrobial laundry products in a domestic setting. The seven participating laboratories were equipped with 5 different laboratory-scale devices to simulate the washing process, and they evaluated 7 microbial parameters for 2 experimental conditions and 3 levels of active substance. The analysis of data according to ISO 5725–2 and ISO 13528 demonstrated that the method was robust. All reproducibility standard deviation values were between 0.00 and 1.40 and the relative standard deviation indicates satisfactory reproducibility. Values of logarithmic reduction ranged from less than 2 log10 for tests with water to more than 5 log10 when disinfectants were added. The evidence generated by the ring trial was presented in a proposal for a standardized method under CEN/TC 216, in which the SOP used in the ring trial is referred to as the prEN 17658 phase 2 step 2 test method covering chemothermal textile disinfection in domestic settings.
METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS ( MOFs ) DERIVED FROM CARBOXYLATE LIGAND AS POTENTIAL MATERIALS FOR REMEDIATION OF Cd ( II ) AND Pb ( II ) FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION

The remediation of cadmium and lead ions from their respective aqueous solutions was carried out with the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) developed from copper and zinc with benzene-1,4dicarboxylic acid (BDC). The experimental adsorption process was done in batches to determine the equilibrium characteristics, thermodynamics and kinetics of the sorption processes. The result was then tested using Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherm equations with Langmuir being the best fitted isotherm, while the kinetics isotherm used were pseudo first order and pseudo second order. The result obtained shows that the MOFs are great potential adsorbent for the studied metals.