Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does the Power of Social Example Fade? Nudge Effect of Social Information on Individual’s Donation Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model with Three-Wave Cross-Sectional Data

Purpose This study assesses how various social information influence individuals’ money donation behaviors towards charitable funds against the COVID-19 pandemic at different stages of the pandemic. It also explores the mediating role of social anxiety and the moderating role of self-control. Materials and Methods This three-wave study was conducted with online survey experiments using convenience sampling at the pandemic’s outbreak stage (April–June 2020), trough stage (February–March 2021), and resurgence stage (May 2022) in China. The nudge power of social information was measured by whether participants changed their initial money donation decisions after informed positive or negative social information. Self-report scales were used to measure levels of social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) and self-control (Self-Control Scale). The final data set included 1371 participants from 26 provinces of mainland China. Stata medeff package and SPSS PROCESS were used to analyze the data. Results Individuals’ initial donation behaviors did not fluctuate along with the pandemic status, but the nudge effect of social information did. From outbreak stage to trough stage, the nudge power of positive social information significantly declined, but did not significantly change again at the resurgence stage. By contrast, the nudge power of negative social information did not significantly differ between outbreak and trough stage but did significantly increase at the resurgence stage. Social anxiety played a significant mediating role in the relationship between COVID-19 status and power of social information. Moreover, self-control moderated the direct effect of COVID-19 status on power of social information and the indirect effect via social anxiety. Conclusion Our findings enrich research on the nudge power variation of social information on individuals’ donation behaviors along with the pandemic status and its potential psychological influence factors. This study also helps guide organizations to better design and carry out social information nudge mechanism.
Stability of thin, radially moving liquid sheets

An analysis of the stability of thin viscous liquid sheets, such as those emitted from industrial spraying nozzles, is presented. These sheets are in the form of a circular sector whose thickness reduces as the distance from the nozzle increases. The Kelvin-Helmholtz type of instability usually observed causes the breakup and atomization of the sheet, as required in most industrial spraying processes. Waviness, like that of a flapping flag, is produced and increasing amplitudes finally cause breakup. An analytical solution in the form of hypergeometric functions for the shape of the sheet and the waves is obtained. This solution includes, as special cases, analyses existing in the literature, in addition to establishing the possibility of a new type of instability dependent on the distance from the nozzle. Also, the classical type of instability, in which the waves increase with time, is examined and relations for unstable waves as a function of parameters such as the fluid viscosity, surface tension and sheet velocity are obtained. It is shown that there is no single wave that has a maximum growth rate, but that the wavenumber for maximum instability increases with the distance from the nozzle orifice.
Lovastatin Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles: Preparation, Evaluation and In vitro Release Studies

The goal of the present investigation was to formulate and evaluate a potential of chitosan nanoparticles as carriers for the lovastatin drug. Lovastatin is a BCS class-II drugs having low solubility and high permeability. Since lovastatin undergoes extensive first pass extraction in the liver, the availability of the drug to the general circulation is low (< 5%). Nanoparticles were prepared by modified ionotropic gelation method using 32 full factorial design. From the preliminary trials, the constraints for independent variables X1 (concentration of chitosan) and X2 (concentration of sodium tripolyphosphate) have been fixed. Factors included concentration of chitosan and STPP, have been examined to investigate effect on particle size, encapsulation efficiency, zeta potential, % release, SEM, FTIR, XRD and DSC analysis of lovastatin. Release study was conducted by in vitro dialysis membrane method using phosphate buffer pH 7.4 at 37°C. The diameter of prepared nanoparticles was controlled in the range of 100 -800nm. Experimental results showed that lovastatin encapsulation efficiency was decreasing with increasing chitosan concentration. The particle size is independent of encapsulation efficiency. Spectrograms of FTIR and DSC showed that lovastatin physically absorbed by chitosan matrix. SEM photographs demonstrated prepared nanoparticles were in spherical shape and narrow diameter distribution. In vitro drug release study of selected factorial formulations (CL1, CL4, CL7) showed, 87.42± 0.020%, 85.72± 0.025%, and 78.88± 0.025% release respectively in 24 hrs. The Zeta potential of all the batches were in the range of + 30 mv and batch CL4 was found to be + 35.32 mv. So it conclude that prepared all formulation were good stability. The release profiles of all batches were very well fitted by both the zero order mode and the anomalous transport. These results indicate that lovastatin nanoparticles could be effective in sustaining drug release for a prolonged period.
Depremden Zarar Görebilirlik Boyutunu Etkileyen Faktörlerin Derecelendirilmesi

Afetler geniş kapsamlı sosyal, fiziksel ve ekonomik zararlara neden olan insan veya doğa kaynaklı olaylardır. Deprem büyük yıkımlara neden olan maddi ve manevi ciddi zararlar veren en önemli afetlerden biridir. Depremin neden olacağı hasarların belirlenmesi ve hasarları engellemeye yönelik gerekli önlemlerin alınması zarar boyutunun azaltılmasında önemli bir adımdır. Bu çalışmada depremden zarar görebilirliğe etki eden faktörler literatür taraması ve uzman görüşleri ile belirlenir. Ana ve alt başlıklarda belirlenen zarar görebilirliğe etki eden faktörler etki boyut ve ilişkilerine göre açıklanır. Deprem risk planlamasının yapılması ve önlemlerin alınması için faktörlerin öncelik sıralaması yapılır. Öncelik sıralaması depremden önce, deprem sırasında ve depremden sonra olası maddi ve manevi zarar boyutunu en aza indirmede yardımcı olur. Çok kriterli karar verme problemi olarak tanımlanan problemde depremden zarar görebilirliği etki eden faktörler analitik hiyerarşi prosesi (AHP) ile yapılandırılır ve ikili karşılaştırma matrisleri (İKM) ile değerlendirilir. Ana ve alt faktörler ikili karşılaştırılarak faktörlerin öncelik değerleri elde edilir. Yapısal, çevresel ve sosyal ana faktörlerden yapısal faktörlerin önemi ön plana çıkarken sosyal faktörlerden nüfus yoğunluğu dışındaki faktörler sıralamada son sıralarda yer alır. Çevresel faktörlerden faylara uzaklık ve jeolojik yapının önemi vurgulanır. Yapısal faktörler ile çevresel faktörlerin beraber dikkate alınması depremden zarar görme ölçüsünü önemli ölçüde azaltacağı görülür. Depremden zarar görebilirliği azalmak için tüm faktörlerin bütünsel olarak ele alınması gerekliliği dikkat çeker.
Combined Effect of Acid Whey Addition and Ultrasonic Treatment on the Chemical and Microbiological Stability of Lamb Stuffing

The microbiological and chemical stability of stuffing is crucial in meat processing. Small ruminant (lamb) meat has many nutritional advantages (fatty acid composition and ratio, high biological value of protein, source of zinc, and selenium) but is poorly utilized in processing. In this experiment, we determined the effects of physical (sonication), chemical (salt, curing salt, and air access), and microbiological (acid whey) factors on the microbiological and chemical stability of lamb meat stuffing. Proximate composition and fatty acids profile, pH, water activity, lipid oxidation, color parameters, and microbiology examinations were performed in fresh meat stuffing and on the fifth day of refrigerated storage. Ultrasound treatment of the meat with whey reduced its acidity and increased the oxidative stability of fats but did not modify the water activity and color of the stuffing. Stuffing sonication did not affect the growth of LAB but reduced the number of Entereobacteriace, especially in the presence of whey and salt. The treatment of lamb meat stuffing with low-frequency and medium-intensity ultrasound assisted by the addition of acid whey and salt is a technique conducive to reducing the use of nitrates in meat technology and their consumption by consumers.
Relationship between Regional Distribution of Centenarians and Drinking Water Hardness in the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan

People who drink naturally hardened water may experience longevity-enhancing effects. In this study, we investigated water hardness and longevity from both geological and epidemiological perspectives in Japan’s Amami islands, where drinking water is drawn from coralline or non-coralline bedrock. We investigated drinking water hardness, limestone bedrock occupancy, and the centenarian rate (number per 10,000 population) by municipality across four adjacent islands (Amami-Oshima (non-coralline), Tokunoshima, Okinoerabu, and Yoron (predominantly coralline)). Limestone was strongly correlated with water hardness (r = 0.99; p < 0.01), occupying more than 80% of the bedrock where the water was the hardest (Tokunoshima’s Isen municipality: 86.5%; Yoron: 82.9%) and being scarcely detectable in Amami-Oshima (0.0 to 0.2%), where the water was the least hard. The centenarian rate was also strongly correlated with water hardness (r = 0.84, p < 0.01), with the highest figures in Yoron (29.7) and Isen (29.2), and the lowest in Amami-Oshima (0.0 to 12.2). Therefore, we hypothesize a potentially beneficial effect of hard water on longevity when that water is drawn from coralline limestone. Water hardness is determined by the water content of calcium and magnesium and may plausibly influence life expectancy through a preventative effect against cardiovascular disease. Our findings are of interest to current debates about future global access to drinking water and its quality.
Seawater Biodegradable Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate)—Wheat Bran Biocomposites

The present work focused on the development and characterization of biocomposites based on a fully bio-based polyester, poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA), and wheat bran derived by flour milling. PBSA-bran composites containing 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt. % of wheat bran were produced via melt extrusion and processed by injection molding. Their thermal, rheological, morphological, and tensile properties were investigated. In addition, a biodegradation test in a natural marine environment was conducted on composite dog-bones to assess the capacity of the used filler to increase the PBSA biodegradation rate. The composites maintained similar melt processability and mechanical properties to virgin PBSA with up to 15 wt. % bran content. This result was also supported by morphological investigation, which showed good filler dispersion within the polymer matrix at low-mid bran content, whereas poor polymer-filler dispersion occurred at higher concentrations. Furthermore, the biodegradation tests showed bran’s capacity to improve the PBSA biodegradation rate, probably due to the hygroscopic bran swelling, which induced the fragmentation of the dog-bone with a consequent increase in the polymeric matrix–seawater interfacial area, accelerating the degradation mechanisms. These results encourage the use of wheat bran, an abundant and low-cost agri-food by-product, as a filler in PBSA-based composites to develop products with good processability, mechanical properties, and controlled biodegradability in marine environments.
Association of Circulating Branched-Chain Amino Acids with Cardiovascular Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Background: There have been reports linking branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) to the hazard of various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); however, the causal role of this relationship is still unclear. We conducted a study using bi-directional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) with the aim of investigating the possible causal correlation between BCAAs and 13 types of cardiovascular diseases. Methods: The study analyzed data of the largest genome-wide association studies (GWAS) published for the total BCAAs, encompassing isoleucine, leucine, and valine, which were obtained from the UK Biobank, as well as data for 13 cardiovascular endpoints from the MRC-IEU, the FinnGen consortium, and the EBI database. The approach of the primary dissection used became the inverse-variance-weighted (IVW) approach, with additional analyses using the MR-PRESSO global test as well as MR-Egger regression with a view to determining horizontal pleiotropy. Heterogeneity was evaluated by means of Cochran’s Q test. The study also conducted logistic regression dissection for the sake of investigating the correlation between cardiovascular events and serum BCAAs in the UK biobank cohort study. Results: In this study, it was found that individuals with a genetic predisposition to more elevated levels for circulating total BCAAs had a higher hazard of peripheral arterial disease (OR 1.400, 95% CI 1.063, 1.844; p = 0.017) in addition to stroke (OR 1.266, 95% CI 1.012, 1.585; p = 0.039); circulating valine casually increased the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (OR 1.760, 95% CI 1.116, 2.776; p = 0.015), along with stroke (OR 1.269, 95% CI 1.079, 1.492; p = 0.004); genetically predicted isoleucine showed a positive association with peripheral arterial disease (OR 1.466, 95% CI 1.044, 2.058; p = 0.027), along with cardioembolic stroke (OR 1.547, 95% CI 1.126, 2.124; p = 0.007); furthermore, leucine causally associated with stroke (OR 1.310, 95% CI 1.031, 1.663, p = 0.027). In the UK Biobank cohort study, we detected that total BCAAs (OR: 1.285; 95% CI: 1.009, 1.636), valine (OR: 1.287; 95% CI: 1.009, 1.642), and isoleucine (OR: 1.352; 95% CI: 1.064, 1.718) were independently linked to stroke, but not leucine (OR: 1.146; 95% CI: 0.901, 1.458). No such association was found for BCAAs with peripheral arterial disease and intracerebral hemorrhage in the cohort study. Conclusions: In summary, circulating total BCAAs and valine may be causally associated with stroke. The association of BCAAs with other CVD events needs further study.
L-ECQV: Lightweight ECQV Implicit Certificates for Authentication in the Internet of Things

The vast expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and related applications has bridged the gap between the physical and digital world. Unfortunately, security remains a major challenge and the lack of secure links have fueled the increased attacks on IoT devices and networks. Due to its inherent scalability, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the well-known and classic approach to bring public-key certificate based security to IoT. Even though the standard X.509 explicit certificates can be viable solution, they are inefficient and too large for resource constrained IoT networks and therefore, smaller, faster and more efficient Elliptic Curve Qu Vanstone (ECQV) implicit certificates can be employed for establishing authenticated connections in IoT. Moreover, the existing certificate-based authentication proposals in standardized IoT networks have either been deployed at the transport or physical layers. Thus, these proposals fail to provide true end-to-end security to messages at the application layer in the presence of intermediate CoAP proxies. This challenging aspect is addressed in this proposal by focusing on the certificate-based authentication at the application layer to ensure true end-to-end security of messages. Additionally, IoT application layer security protocols like EDHOC lacks mechanism for authenticated distribution of public keys and thus, there is a need for lightweight authentication based cryptographic primitive for establishing secure key agreement in IoT. This paper introduces a design and implementation of a lightweight ECQV implicit certificate and use them for authenticated key exchange in EDHOC at the application layer. We also design a lightweight profile with a novel encoding mechanism for ECQV implicit certificate, called L-ECQV. To prove its viability, L-ECQV has been implemented and evaluated on Contiki operating system. Our evaluation results show that the proposed L-ECQV certificate approach reduces energy consumption by 27%, message overhead of EDHOC handshake by 52%, and shows improvements in certificate validation time. The security analysis demonstrates that proposed L-ECQV certificates for EDHOC protocol is secure against a number of attack vectors present in the IoT network. This novel combination of ECQV certificates with EDHOC key exchange leads to a secure and lightweight authenticated key agreement in IoT networks.
Scaling of streamwise boundary layer streaks and their ability to reduce skin-friction drag

Abstract Spanwise arrays of miniature vortex generators (MVGs) are used to generate energetic transient disturbance growth, which is able to modulate the boundary layer flow with steady and stable streak amplitudes up to 32 % of the free-stream velocity. This type of modulation has previously been shown to act in a stabilizing manner on modal disturbance growth described by classical instability theory. In an attempt to reproduce a more realistic flow configuration, in the present experimental set-up, Tollmien–Schlichting (TS) waves are generated upstream of the MVG array, allowing for a complete interaction of the incoming wave with the array. Fifteen new MVG configurations are investigated and the stabilizing effect on the TS waves is quantified. We show that the streak amplitude definition is very important when trying to relate it to the stabilization, since it may completely bypass information on the mean streamwise velocity gradient in the spanwise direction, which is an essential ingredient of the observed stabilization. Here, we use an integral-based streak amplitude definition along with a streak amplitude scaling relation based on empiricism, which takes the spanwise periodicity of the streaks into account. The results show that, applying the integral definition, the optimal streak amplitude for attenuating TS wave disturbance growth is around 30 % of the free-stream velocity, which corresponds to ${\sim }20\hspace{0.167em} \% $ in the conventional definition when keeping the spanwise wavelength constant. The experiments also show that the disturbance energy level, based on the full velocity signal, is significantly reduced in the controlled case, and that the onset of transition may be inhibited altogether throughout the measured region in the presence of an MVG array.
Attractiveness or expertise? Which is more effective in beauty product endorsement? Moderating role of social distance

Abstract In the beauty industry, advertisers are increasingly exploring endorsements from social media influencers (SMIs) as a strategy to promote positive consumer responses. For this strategy to be effective, it is important to select appropriate SMIs. Across two experiments, we investigated the moderating role of social distance by comparing an attractive celebrity to an expert SMI (Study 1) and by comparing attractive SMIs to expert SMIs (Study 2). The findings indicate that attractiveness is more effective when the perceived social distance from the endorser is close, whereas expertise is better when the social distance is far. Furthermore, the effects of endorser type on advertising effectiveness were mediated by attractiveness (expertise), which was mediated by the parasocial relationship with the SMI. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings regarding social media advertising strategies.
Longitudinal Coupling between Eating Disorder Psychopathology and Depression in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Treated with Enhanced Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A One-Year Follow-Up Study

Background: The relationship between eating disorder (ED) specific psychopathology and depressive symptomatology in EDs is often debated. The aim of this study was to provide an explicative model regarding the mechanisms by which enhanced cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT-E) might determine an amelioration of depressive symptoms in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN). Methods: A total of 157 women with AN or BN and no history of childhood trauma or bipolar disorder were evaluated before treatment and after 12 months of CBT-E. Self-administered questionnaires were used to measure ED psychopathology and depressive symptoms. Results: All psychopathological measures improved after treatment, with no significant additional improvement with the concomitant use of antidepressants. Structural equation modeling using the bivariate latent change score approach showed that higher levels of depressive symptoms at baseline were associated with a worse longitudinal trend of ED psychopathology, and vice versa. Finally, the amelioration of ED psychopathology predicted the improvement in depressive symptoms at follow-up, whereas data did not support the inverse path. Conclusion: This study elucidated the complex longitudinal interplay between ED psychopathology and depression during CBT-E, underlining the importance of addressing ED symptoms as a primary target in the case of comorbidity between AN or BN and depressive symptoms.
Board composition and corporate governance performance: investigating the effects of diversity

ABSTRACT This study investigated the diversity of the BOD and explored its impact on corporate governance through quantitative empirical analysis. This study uniquely adopted Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporate Governance 100 Index (TWSE CG 100 Index) as the measurement of corporate governance performance. Five highly related indicators, i.e. gender, independence, education, legal, finance or accounting profession, and seniority to measure board diversity, which could be efficient variables on predicting the firms’ likelihood being listed in the TWSE CG 100 Index, were used as independent variables. The results showed that board independence and the seniority of directors have a positive impact on corporate governance. This study made several important contributions. First, this study shed light on the conflicting evidence on the relationship between board diversity and firm corporate governance performance for the Taiwan economy. Second, this paper uniquely adopted TWSE CG 100 Index, and the findings can contribute to giving investors predictions about the quality of corporate governance and can serve as an incentive for corporates to enhance superior corporate governance. Furthermore, this study can contribute to practice by providing optimization suggestions for BOD composition and nomination. At last, this paper demonstrated policy justifications and implications for Taiwan government.