Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of aerosol concentration on elevation‐dependent warming pattern in the mountains of Nepal

Greater warming rates in the mountain areas (higher elevations) compared to other parts of the world have drawn the attention of the scientific community in recent years. In this study, we first analyzed elevation‐dependent warming (EDW) patterns based on maximum temperature trends along the south–north temperature gradients of Nepal and then focused on influencing factors of EDW. Nonparametric statistical test was used to identify the warming trend (1970–2016) in each meteorological station along the altitude gradients. Furthermore, aerosol optical depth data was used to observe aerosol concentrations in different seasons across Nepal. Overall, the EDW trend was found positive on the mean annual and seasonal cycle in the study area. It was observed that there was more significant positive correlation of warming rates with altitude below the middle parts of the Lower Hills while a less pronounced correlation above it. This different behavior is attributed to high aerosol concentration on the lower part of this region.
Composted sewage sludge in replacement of mineral fertilization on wheat production and development

Several research lines are required to ensure a proper disposal of sewage sludge in Brazil; among them, we may highlight agricultural use. In this sense, this study aimed at assessing the effect of exchanging nitrogen sourcing via conventional fertilization (chemical) with growing doses of composted sewage sludge (CSS) on wheat crop performance. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with seven treatments and ten replications, being defined as T0 (control – without fertilization); T1 (100% mineral fertilization); T2 (50% mineral + 50% CSS); T3, T4, T5, and T6 (100, 150, 200, and 250% nitrogen fertilizing from CSS). Results showed that the use of CSS increased wheat production and development, therefore enhancing its performance. Thus, exchanging mineral fertilization with CSS application raised wheat yields.
Cooperative Scheme ToA-RSSI and Variable Anchor Positions for Sensors Localization in 2D Environments

To rich good accuracy in the 2D area for wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes, a localization method has to be selected. The objective of this paper is first to select which localization technique is required (Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)) or (Time of Arrival (ToA)) against anchors placement in a 2D area. Depending on whether the anchor nodes are spaced or not and inspired by the idea of using the RSSI method for small distances and the ToA method for greater distances, we will show which method should be used for the positioning process which mainly guarantees a minimal localization error. Second, a two-dimensional localization scheme for WSN which is called Combined Advantages of ToA-RSSI (CA ToA-RSSI), hereafter, ranging methods, is designed in this work, to make the accuracy better during the positioning process. Results provided through MATLAB simulations show that our new technique improves considerably the positioning accuracy compared with the traditional RSSI and ToA ranging method. The proposed scheme can be run under Line of Sight and (LOS) and Nonline of Sight (NLOS) conditions taking into account a difference in the measurement error.
Elite‐Mass Linkages in the Preference Formation on Differentiated Integration

How does the public form preferences about differentiated integration (DI)? The literature on mass-elite linkages offers two perspectives: top-down, political elites cue the public, or bottom-up, political elites react to public preferences. This paper develops expectations based on both perspectives, and presents novel empirical data on citizens, political parties, and governments to test them. We distinguish preferences over differentiated policy integration, like “Opt-Outs”, from preferences over polity differentiation, such as “Two-Speed Europe”. Although our evidence is observational and therefore cannot establish causal relationships between elites and the mass public, our results are most compatible with the notion of a top-down linkage. This is because DI preferences are generally of low salience, and first revealed at the European level in the context of negotiations. Subsequently, this revelation of DI preferences shapes domestic discussions about DI, especially at the level of political parties. Yet, this mostly pertains to situations when governments do not yet have clear DI preferences of their own, meaning government preferences are not yet formed and revealed in the context of the supranational negotiations. Overall, this study suggests that mass-elite linkage in the preference formation on DI might be more tenuous than either the top-down or bottom-up perspective might assume.
Spinal Cord Injury and Loss of Cortical Inhibition

After spinal cord injury (SCI), the destruction of spinal parenchyma causes permanent deficits in motor functions, which correlates with the severity and location of the lesion. Despite being disconnected from their targets, most cortical motor neurons survive the acute phase of SCI, and these neurons can therefore be a resource for functional recovery, provided that they are properly reconnected and retuned to a physiological state. However, inappropriate re-integration of cortical neurons or aberrant activity of corticospinal networks may worsen the long-term outcomes of SCI. In this review, we revisit recent studies addressing the relation between cortical disinhibition and functional recovery after SCI. Evidence suggests that cortical disinhibition can be either beneficial or detrimental in a context-dependent manner. A careful examination of clinical data helps to resolve apparent paradoxes and explain the heterogeneity of treatment outcomes. Additionally, evidence gained from SCI animal models indicates probable mechanisms mediating cortical disinhibition. Understanding the mechanisms and dynamics of cortical disinhibition is a prerequisite to improve current interventions through targeted pharmacological and/or rehabilitative interventions following SCI.
Adoption Factors and Moderating Effects of Age and Gender That Influence the Intention to Use a Non-Directive Reflective Coaching Chatbot

Chatbots are increasingly applied in various contexts including helping professions, such as organizational and life coaching. Coaching facilitates individual wellness, behavioral change, and goal attainment in a reflective, non-directive manner, and is considered one of the fastest-growing professions. The use of knowledge imparting service chatbots have been studied; however, the application of chatbots in coaching has received scant research attention, raising the question about which factors and moderating effects play a role in the adoption of reflective, non-directive coaching chatbots. In this study, we applied a modified Unified Theory of the Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to determine factors and moderating effects of age and gender that influence the adoption of a goal-attainment coaching chatbot. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for the analysis of a cross-sectional UTAUT survey (n = 226). Performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions had significant roles as direct determinants of intent to use the coaching chatbot. Gender moderated performance expectancy and age showed a moderation tendency on effort expectancy. This study on non-directive, reflective chatbots in the organizational, and life coaching domains contributes to our understanding of how to design chatbots aimed at helping people find their own answers.
Fostering Innovation in Networked Communications: Test and Experimentation Platforms for Broadband Systems

This chapter examines how to foster innovation in networked communications by setting up broadband environments for joint testing and experimenting. It identifies six types of test and experimentation platforms (TEPs), based on criteria such as technological maturity, openness, and focus. The typology is matched with the IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, Designing for Networked Communications: Strategies and Development edited by S. Heilessen and S. Jensen © 2007, IGI Global 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-pub.com ITB14072
Overheating in care settings: magnitude, causes, preparedness and remedies

ABSTRACT Research in UK and elsewhere has highlighted that older people are particularly vulnerable to negative health effects of overheating. This paper examines the magnitude, causes, preparedness and remedies for addressing the risk of summertime overheating in four case study residential care and extra-care settings across the UK, spanning different building types, construction and age. An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, drawing from building science and social science methods, including temperature monitoring, building surveys, and interviews with design and management teams. The findings suggest that overheating is a current and prevalent risk in the case study schemes, yet currently little awareness or preparedness exists to implement suitable and long-term adaptation strategies (e.g., external shading). There was a perception from designers to managers, that cold represents a bigger threat to older occupants’ health than excessive heat. A lack of effective heat management was found across the case studies that included unwanted heat gains from the heating system, confusion in terms of responsibilities to manage indoor temperatures, and conflicts between window opening and occupant safety. Given that care settings should provide protection against risks from cold and hot weather, design, management and care practices need to become better focused towards this goal.
Do Rating and Task Measures of Control Abilities Assess the Same Thing?

The ability to control one’s thoughts and actions is broadly associated with health and success, so it is unsurprising that measuring self-control abilities is a common goal across many areas of psychology. Puzzlingly, however, different measures of control––questionnaire ratings and cognitive tasks––show only weak relationships to each other. We review evidence that this discrepancy is not just a result of poor reliability or validity of ratings or tasks. Rather, ratings and tasks seem to assess different aspects of control, distinguishable along six main dimensions. To improve the psychological science surrounding self-control, it will be important for future work to investigate the relative importance of these dimensions to the dissociations between self-control measures, and for researchers to explain which aspects of control they are studying and why they have focused on those aspects of control when one or both types of measures are deployed.
Seeking a Sense of Control or Escapism? The Role of Video Games in Coping with Unemployment

Unemployment can have devastating effects on people’s psychological and social wellbeing. The effects of unemployment can be exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the lack of control over one’s life and the loss of social connectedness. Through a survey of 480 unemployed workers, this study examined how emotion-focused coping using video game can affect the workers’ wellbeing and reemployment. The findings showed that escapism was associated with decreased wellbeing, which reduced job-search efficacy and behaviors. However, when video game playing was viewed as a source of self-determination, it can support the unemployed workers’ intrinsic needs of autonomy and relatedness, which improved their wellbeing, their job-search efficacy, and job-search behaviors. Further comparison of effects between gender, age, race, and income found that unemployed workers who made lower to medium income were more likely to seek escapism through games compared to female unemployed workers.
A Review of Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry Applications in Permafrost Regions: Current status, challenges, and trends

With climate change and the increment of human activities, global permafrost is undergoing degradation, threatening the stability of engineering and the ecological environment of the permafrost region. With the advantages of all-day, all-weather, wide-coverage, and high-accuracy monitoring, synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) is becoming a substantial tool for permafrost monitoring, and many studies with InSAR in permafrost regions have been conducted in the recent 20 years. In this article, the basic principles of time–series InSAR are introduced first. Then, the development and applications of InSAR in permafrost, such as the coherence analysis of permafrost ground surface, the deformation of permafrost and infrastructure, and active layer thickness (ALT) retrieval, are given. Next, the existing problems, including temporal decorrelation, atmospheric delay, deformation models, and the effect of soil moisture and phase unwrapping (PU), are discussed.
Antecedents and Outcomes of Service Co-Creation in the Sharing Economy

The study focuses on service co-creation in the sharing economy, where platform operators mediate the relationship between customers and potential service providers. Service co-creation consists of information sharing, interaction, and responsible behavior that customers undertake voluntarily or willingly to create an experience of value. Based on S-D logic, a theoretical model of service co-creation was developed and tested through structural equation modeling using survey data from 627 respondents in Sydney, Australia. The results provide strong empirical support for the hypothesized relationships between service co-creation, its determinants and impact on customer satisfaction. The implications on theory development and for property owners and platform operators are discussed.
Impact of the Choice of Entrained-flow Bed Gasification Technology on the Energy Efficiency of IGCC Systems

Gasifier is one of the critical devices in an integrated gasification combined cycle(IGCC) power plant,and the selection of gasifiers has significant impact on the overall efficiency of the whole system.In this study,four different IGCC configurations,employing Shell gasifier,GE gasifier with quench,GE gasifier with heat recovering,and MHI air-blown gasifier,were designed and simulated by GT Pro software respectively.Based on the obtained performance parameters through simulation,both of the efficiency variations of IGCC system when employing various entrained-flow gasification technologies and the inherent mechanisms causing these changes were analyzed.Results show that the energy conversion and distribution of the whole system depend heavily on the feedstock characteristics,choosing of oxidants and methods of syngas sensible heat recovery.In the IGCC system employing Shell gasifier,most of the energy in coal is converted to the chemical energy of syngas,which can contribute to a high overall efficiency,whereas in the systems employing GE gasifier with heat recovery and MHI air-blown gasifier,a larger portion of energy in coal is converted to the sensible heat of syngas,which could be utilized in the following processes.
Music and facial emotion recognition and its relationship with alexithymia

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of alexithymia on the ability to identify emotions through visual and auditory stimuli. We assessed Alexithymia using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). As visual stimuli, we employed the images of faces from the Ekman 60 Faces Test, while the auditory stimuli consisted of fragments of instrumental music. A total of 303 students participated, 139 in secondary education and 164 in the first year of university (M = 17.58 years; SD = 4.16). The results show higher alexithymia levels in the female participants than in the male participants, mainly in the difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) and difficulty describing feelings (DDF) factors, and higher in the secondary students than in the university students, especially in externally oriented thinking (EOT). In terms of the identification of emotions through auditory stimuli, the EOT factor showed a strong predictive effect for the emotions of surprise and anger. For the visual stimuli, the EOT factor showed predictive validity for identifying happiness, while the DDF factor showed predictive validity for identifying sadness. We conclude that there is a relationship between alexithymia levels and emotion recognition, which varies depending on the nature of the stimulus.
Gyroscopic effect on a scaled rotor-bearing system

This paper deals with scale-fullscale models of rotor-bearing systems on rotating condition. The investigation is focused on the gyroscopic effect, which causes forward and backward whirl frequencies. When the rotor-bearing system is scaled proportionally in its dimension (height, length, and width), the scaling factor of whirl frequencies can be derived. It depends on the ratio between a transverse and polar moment of inertia on its rotating axis called the gyroscopic factor. The experimental study is conducted to validate it on three scaled rotor-bearing systems, which shifts its disc from the middle of the shaft on the scale of 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1 to clearly show the gyroscopic effect on first bending natural frequency. The scaling factor is then validated using the Campbell diagram by finding its critical speed. From this critical speed, the whirl frequencies along the range of the full-scale model speed can be obtained. The result also shows that the scaling factor remains the same whether it is at rotation or rest condition. Consideration must be made on the effect of the structural design, that is, blade and support, because of its unsymmetric stiffness that can cause backward whirl frequencies. The bearing stiffness must be ensured to be scaled proportionally, especially on journal bearing cases. This finding can be used by engineers to deal with scaling method implementation on rotating machinery design.
Lean practices implementation and their relationships with operational responsiveness and company performance: an Italian study

Although many firms report large benefits from lean implementation, a lot of scepticism still remains regarding attainable results and the possibility to apply Lean approach outside high-volume manufacturing and stable context. In this work, combining field interviews with literature review, theoretical connections have been developed among Lean manufacturing techniques, operational responsiveness and company growth performances. A conceptual model has been proposed for investigating the network of influences among lean practices (supplier management, human resource management, just-in-time and total quality management practices), operational responsiveness (Product mix variety, Product innovation and Time effectiveness) and company growth performances in Italian companies. Using structural equation modelling, a second-order confirmatory factor analysis has been used to test the hypothesised relationships in the structural models. This study highlights that the operational responsiveness is only partially connected to a Lean strategy of a company. Indeed, the lean practices implementations are negatively influenced by product mix variety and innovation, while positively influenced by time effectiveness variables. Moreover, product mix variety and time effectiveness are the main characteristics of the operational responsiveness that positively influences company growth performances. So time effectiveness could be considered as a mediator between Lean best practices and firm growth. Moreover, no direct relationship has been found between lean bundles and firm’s performances. Lack of resources and mainly poor communication and managers’ commitment and support seem to be the main obstacles of lean implementation and success.
Pattern and Drivers of Agricultural Labour Migration in Karnataka, India

The agricultural sector in India facing apparent shortage of labour is observed in rural farms, a phenomenon is due to migration. The study was based on primary data collected from 120 agricultural labour households of irrigated and rainfed situations. Education, land holding variables in irrigated and wage rate in rainfed situation, discriminates the migration and non-migration samples. The regression results also shown that, wage rate and land holding were significantly influence the migration. The frequency of migration outside the district was comparatively higher in rainfed. Majority of labourers migrated seasonally and the rate was high in rainfed situation.
Investigation of the effect of graphene nanosheets on the properties of beech/polylactic acid flour composites

In this study, the effect of different amounts of graphene on the physical and mechanical properties of polylactic acid beech wood fiber composites were investigated. Beech flour and graphene were used as reinforcing phases with different weight percentages (0, 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5%). Samples were prepared by solution method and after pressing, mechanical properties such as flexural strength, flexural modulus, impact resistance and tensile strength and physical properties including differential scanning calorimetry test (DSC) and X-ray scattering test were measured. The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of treatment was significant for flexural strength (p < .05) and flexural modulus, impact resistance and tensile strength (p < .01). The highest flexural strength, flexural modulus and tensile strength were related to treatment 8, which included 30% beech flour, 67.5% polylactic acid and 2.5% graphene, and the highest impact resistance was related to treatment 2, which included 20%. The weight of beech flour was 79.5% by weight of polylactic acid and 0.5% by weight of graphene, which were significantly different from other treatments (p < .05). Based on the DSC, the melting temperature of the polymer matrix was transferred to higher temperatures by adding graphene nanosheets. The results of X-ray diffraction test showed that for all three treatments there is a similar trend in terms of peak graph and with increasing the concentration of graphene nanoparticles, only the peak intensity changed. It can be said that the addition of nanographene to beech-polylactic acid flour composites has improved the mechanical and physical properties.
Importance of Perception of Errors and Challenges for Improving Psychological Conditioning: Mediating Effect of Expectancy-Value Using the Phantom Model for Taekwondo Athletes

Maintenance of positive psychological conditioning can be a key factor in eliciting high human performance. In particular, perception of error forms a causal relationship with challenges regarding task performance. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediation effect of expectancy value in the relationship between the perception of error and challenge using the Phantom Model through quantitative research. This study analyzed the causal relationship between perception of error, expectancy value, and challenge in 423 young Taekwondo athletes. Frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed on the collected data using Jamovi 1.0. 1 and AMOS 23.0 statistical programs to verify the hypothesis. The challenge demonstrated a significant difference in relation to the perception of error. These results demonstrated that the perception of error not only directly affected one’s challenge but also explained the increased challenge by mediating expectations for success and subjective values. Hence, the positive perception of error increased the athletes’ expectancy value and challenge.