Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Hyper-Parameter-Tuned, Confidence-Weighted Collaborative Filtering Model for Implicit Feedback

Addressing the complexity of choice in an increasingly labyrinthine consumption environment, it has become common for providers of products and services to offer recommendations to their users as decision support. These recommendations are obtained through recommender systems, the most widely applied of which are collaborative filtering models. Collaborative filtering exploits users’ feedback on items. However, in many practical settings, only implicit feedback in the form of binary information about the presence or absence of an action for instance, a purchase or a click is available. The inherent difficulty with implicit feedback is that lack of preference cannot be concluded from the absence of an action. The unobserved action might indeed reflect disapproval, or be attributed to the fact that the user is not even aware of the item in question. Feedback thus exists only in positive or missing form. Latent factor models have been known to handle this type of data input reasonably well, compressing the high-dimensional information into a low-dimensional factor space in which both users and items are represented. In 2008, Yifan Hu, Yehuda Koren and Chris Volinsky proposed a collaborative filtering model which copes with the ambiguity of implicit feedback through assigning confidence-based weights to observations. This Thesis implements the postulated model for retail company data, putting special emphasis on hyper-parameter optimization carried out via grid and random search. While both methods yield satisfying results, random search does so more efficiently and is thus found to be preferable. Furthermore, the results indicate that quality aspects beyond prediction accuracy should be explicitly accounted for.
Social psychological aspects of “making” economists: A review of the nature versus nurture debate

A considerable number of empirical studies argue that economics experts differ from other groups with respect to their public policy preferences and their behavior in certain social dilemmas. Economists are more likely to regard allocation via markets as “fair” than other people and they seem to adjust their behavior and expectations to the actor-model presumed in the elementary neoclassical theory. Some trace back such observations to influences related to the economics education. An alternative view is that economics attracts individuals with preferences that differ from those of non-economists. While the literature on the matter is growing, a comprehensive picture of the nature and sources of the differences has not yet emerged. This article reviews research based on the survey, experimental, and field evidence collected since 1990 to detect, characterize, and explain the differences. It points at some problems inherent to the methodology that dominates the existing research. Primarily, it directs attention to some psychological and social-psychological aspects of training and socializing economists that have not found adequate recognition so far, but should be considered, to better understand the phenomena in question.
Readiness Theory: A New Approach to Understanding Mediated Prenegotiation and Negotiation Processes Leading to Peace Agreements

Two main theoretical strands suggest causal explanations for the shifts in the de-escalation dynamics of conflicts, in which parties that had been unwilling to sit together at the negotiating table ultimately agreed to do so and eventually signed an agreement. The first is the ripeness strand which embodies three loosely related subtheories, and the second, a corollary of it, is the readiness strand which is based on readiness theory. By applying readiness theory to two case studies of mediated negotiations which ended in agreement in Aceh (2005) and Sudan (2005), this study illustrates the value of the readiness strand as an integrative analytical framework for examining the negotiation process from prenegotiation to negotiation and agreement. This type of multicausal and dynamic analysis, which considers gradual changes in the variables throughout the process, offers insights for researchers as well as for practitioners.
A clinico-epidemiological study of pediatric leprosy in the urban leprosy center of a tertiary care institute

Introduction: The prevalence of leprosy in the pediatric age group indirectly points to active disease in the community. Aim: The main objective of this study was to study the clinico-epidemiological features and prevalence of pediatric leprosy cases in our urban leprosy care center. Materials and Methods: This is an 18-year retrospective descriptive study of pediatric leprosy cases (1997–2014) done in the urban leprosy center of a tertiary care institute. Results: There were sixty cases of pediatric leprosy (n = 60) in this study. There were 41 males (68.33%) and 19 females (31.67%). The mean age was 8.34 years. The age group of 10–12 years accounted for the maximum number of cases, 25 (41.67%). The mean duration of illness was 0.89 year. Family history of leprosy was present in four cases (6.67%). The most common primary skin lesion was macule present in 43 cases (71.66%), with the upper extremities being the most common site involved. Sensory impairment was present in 39 cases (65%). Peripheral nerve thickening was present in 27 cases (45%). Borderline tuberculoid (BT) was the most common type of leprosy seen in 33 cases (55%). Lepra reactions were present in three cases (5%) and Grade 2 deformity was present in three cases (5%). Conclusions: This study showed a prevalence of 6.65% of pediatric leprosy cases. BT was the most common type of leprosy, and the prevalence of lepromatous leprosy, lepra reactions, and deformity was low.
Modelling of an Atmospheric–Pressure Air Glow Discharge Operating in High–Gas Temperature Regimes: The Role of the Associative Ionization Reactions Involving Excited Atoms

A model of a stationary glow-type discharge in atmospheric-pressure air operated in high-gas-temperature regimes (1000 K < Tg < 6000 K), with a focus on the role of associative ionization reactions involving N(2D,2P)-excited atoms, is developed. Thermal dissociation of vibrationally excited nitrogen molecules, as well as electronic excitation from all the vibrational levels of the nitrogen molecules, is also accounted for. The calculations show that the near-threshold associative ionization reaction, N(2D) + O(3P) → NO+ + e, is the major ionization mechanism in air at 2500 K < Tg < 4500 K while the ionization of NO molecules by electron impact is the dominant mechanism at lower gas temperatures and the high-threshold associative ionization reaction involving ground-state atoms dominates at higher temperatures. The exoergic associative ionization reaction, N(2P) + O(3P) → NO+ + e, also speeds up the ionization at the highest temperature values. The vibrational excitation of the gas significantly accelerates the production of N2(A3∑u+) molecules, which in turn increases the densities of excited N(2D,2P) atoms. Because the electron energy required for the excitation of the N2(A3∑u+) state from N2(X1∑g+, v) molecules (e.g., 6.2 eV for v = 0) is considerably lower than the ionization energy (9.27 eV) of the NO molecules, the reduced electric field begins to noticeably fall at Tg > 2500 K. The calculated plasma parameters agree with the available experimental data.
Sustained drug delivery for the management of glaucoma

ABSTRACT Introduction: New modalities for providing sustained drug delivery in glaucoma continue to be developed and aim to improve on the limitations inherent to topical eye drops. This article provides an update on recently published studies and clinical trials of topical, injectable, and other targeted drug delivery systems used to manage glaucoma and bleb fibrosis. Areas covered: Published peer-reviewed articles on sustained drug delivery in glaucoma from 2014 to present day were searched in PubMed and MEDLINE. Devices reviewed included punctal plugs, inserts, sustained release films, implants, and injectable sustained release formulations. We provide an overview of the areas that can be targeted for drug delivery in the eye, including the ocular surface, anterior chamber, subconjunctival space, and suprachoroidal space. Expert commentary: Promising results from preliminary clinical trials suggest that these devices may be a reasonable alternative to eye drops for treating glaucoma in the near future for patients that have difficulties administering drops or adhering to a complex medication schedule. The use of novel drug vehicles and combined therapies may also provide a more predictable outcome and increase the success of glaucoma filtration surgery. Large clinical trials are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of the sustained delivery devices described in this review.
When Good Managers Face Bad Incentives: Management Quality and Energy Intensity in the Presence of Price Distortions

We use unique firm-level data on management practices and energy expenditures in about 2,000 manufacturing firms in central and eastern Europe, Central Asia and Middle East and North Africa to examine how the quality of management practices relates to the energy intensity of firms in the presence of fossil fuel subsidies. We find that better managed firms respond to the incentives and increase their energy intensity if the difference between the supply cost and the consumer price of energy is relatively large. This is particularly relevant for firms in high energy-intensive sectors. However, in the presence of environmental costs in the form of global warming and local pollution all types of firms tend to reduce their energy intensity. Findings suggest that the combined effect of these two forces is not statistically distinguishable from zero for the manufacturing sector overall. In high energy-intensive sectors, the polluting effect of fossil fuel subsidies prevails.
Rerouting of an Esx substrate pair from the ESX-1 type VII secretion system to ESX-5 by modifying a PE/PPE substrate pair

Type VII secretion systems (T7SSs) secrete a wide range of extracellular proteins that play important roles in bacterial viability and in host-pathogen interactions of pathogenic mycobacteria. There are five subtypes of mycobacterial T7SSs, called ESX-1 to ESX-5, and four classes of T7SS substrates, namely the Esx, PE, PPE and Esp proteins. At least some of these substrates are secreted as heterodimers. The ESX systems mediate the secretion of specific members of the Esx, PE and PPE proteins, raising the question how these substrates are recognized in a system-specific fashion. PE/PPE heterodimers interact with their cognate EspG chaperones, which recently has been shown to determine their designated secretion pathway. Both structural and pulldown analysis suggest that EspG is unable to interact with Esx proteins and therefore the determining factor for system-specificity of these substrates remains unknown. In this study, we have investigated the secretion specificity of the ESX-1 substrate pair EsxB_1/EsxA_1 (MMAR_0187/MMAR _0188) in Mycobacterium marinum. While this substrate pair was hardly secreted when ectopically expressed, secretion was observed when EsxB_1/EsxA_1 was co-expressed together with PE35/PPE68_1 (MMAR_0185/MMAR_0186), which are encoded by the same operon. Surprisingly, co-expressing EsxB_1/EsxA_1 with a modified PE35/PPE68_1 version that carried the EspG5 chaperone binding domain, previously shown to redirect this substrate pair to the ESX-5 system, also resulted in co-secretion of EsxB_1/EsxA_1 via ESX-5. Our data suggest a secretion model in which PE35/PPE68_1 is a determinant factor for the system-specific secretion of EsxB_1/EsxA_1.
Magnesium isotopes of the bulk solar wind from Genesis diamond‐like carbon films

NASA's Genesis Mission returned solar wind (SW) to the Earth for analysis to derive the composition of the solar photosphere from solar material. SW analyses control the precision of the derived solar compositions, but their ultimate accuracy is limited by the theoretical or empirical models of fractionation due to SW formation. Mg isotopes are “ground truth” for these models since, except for CAIs, planetary materials have a uniform Mg isotopic composition (within ≤1‰) so any significant isotopic fractionation of SW Mg is primarily that of SW formation and subsequent acceleration through the corona. This study analyzed Mg isotopes in a bulk SW diamond‐like carbon (DLC) film on silicon collector returned by the Genesis Mission. A novel data reduction technique was required to account for variable ion yield and instrumental mass fractionation (IMF) in the DLC. The resulting SW Mg fractionation relative to the DSM‐3 laboratory standard was (−14.4‰, −30.2‰) ± (4.1‰, 5.5‰), where the uncertainty is 2ơ SE of the data combined with a 2.5‰ (total) error in the IMF determination. Two of the SW fractionation models considered generally agreed with our data. Their possible ramifications are discussed for O isotopes based on the CAI nebular composition of McKeegan et al. (2011).
Impacts of Stockbreeding on Global Warming

: The climate change is globally faced by the entire world and humanity with considerably negative impacts on people who live in undeveloped countries in terms of improvement and fighting poverty and who make production by using natural resources. The United Nations Development Fund prepared a Human Development Report on “Fighting Climate Change,” indicating that there are almost 2.6 million poor people in the world will bear the brunt of climate change and ecological conditions. In this respect, emphasis must also be put on the need for considering the people whose source of income usually originates from animal production. In this sense, climate change poses an obstacle on success of the work which is conducted to achieve millennium development goals. The observable changes emerging in climate particularly increases in atmosphere temperature in some regions have an impact on biological life in many regions of the world. Animal production has been considerably intensified in order to meet animal protein deficit which is suffered by the increasing population. The impacts of conventional applications aimed at increasing productivity in animal production have been negative and the people’s attention has started to focus on animal production with the global warming concept and Kyoto Protocol. The animal production might create negative effects on many aspects of environment such as air and water pollution, decrease in soil quality and biodiversity, as well as climate change. The aim of this paper to evaluate animal farming impacts on global warming.
Pengaruh Motivasi Dan Disiplin Kerja Terhadap Kinerja Karyawan

The aim of this study is finding and analyzing the impact of motivation and work discipline on employee performance. This study uses the descriptive analysis and verification analysis with 35 respondents. In addition, this study uses path analysis. The result shows that motivation is adequate, the result of work discipline is acceptable, and employee performance is decent. The direct and indirect effect of motivation on performance is 0,369. The direct and indirect effect of work discipline on performance is 0,362. The entire effect is 0,731. Coefficient determination is 73.1% and the rest is 26.9% from the other variables that have effect on employee performance but they were not analyzed on this study. Keywords : motivation, work discipline , employee performance. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3522800
Green packaging and green advertising as precursors of competitive advantage and business performance among manufacturing small and medium enterprises in South Africa

Abstract This research aimed to assess the impact of green packaging and green advertising on competitive advantage and business performance of manufacturing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). A research conceptual model was produced to determine the relationships from that model. A quantitative research approach was utilised for this investigation and a simple random sampling procedure was embraced. The target population for this examination was confined to heads of marketing departments within manufacturing SMEs in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The data analysis was done in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 25 for demographic data analysis and AMOS 25 was utilised for the structural equation modelling. The tested relationships produced satisfactory results consistent with how they were hypothesised. Unequivocally, it was discovered that green packaging and green advertising had a positive influence on competitive advantage and business performance. This investigation expands the knowledge base that presently exists in the field of green marketing, competitive advantage, as well as SMEs business performance. Likewise, this examination is important to manufacturing SME proprietors and supervisors since most them endeavour to have a competitive advantage and additionally, to boost profitability, as well as the business’ interest.
Genome-wide analysis of Escherichia coli fitness determinants in a cross-feeding mutualism with Rhodopseudomonas palustris

Microbial interactions abound in natural ecosystems and shape community structure and function. Substantial attention has been given to cataloging mechanisms by which microbes interact, but there is a limited understanding of the genetic landscapes that promote or hinder microbial interactions. We previously developed a mutualistic coculture pairing Escherichia coli and Rhodopseudomonas palustris, wherein E. coli provides carbon to R. palustris in the form of glucose fermentation products and R. palustris fixes N2 gas and provides nitrogen to E. coli in the form of NH4+. The stable coexistence and reproducible trends exhibited by this coculture make it ideal for interrogating the genetic underpinnings of a cross-feeding mutualism. Here, we used random barcode transposon sequencing (RB-TnSeq) to conduct a genome-wide search for E. coli genes that influence fitness during cooperative growth with R. palustris. RB-TnSeq revealed hundreds of genes that increased or decreased E. coli fitness in a mutualism-dependent manner. Some identified genes were involved in nitrogen sensing and assimilation, as expected given the coculture design. The other identified genes were involved in diverse cellular processes, including energy production and cell wall and membrane biogenesis. Additionally, we discovered unexpected purine cross-feeding from R. palustris to E. coli, with coculture rescuing growth of an E. coli purine auxotroph. Our data provide insight into the genes and gene networks that can influence a cross-feeding mutualism and underscore that microbial interactions are not necessarily predictable a priori. IMPORTANCE Microbial communities impact life on earth in profound ways, including driving global nutrient cycles and influencing human health and disease. These community functions depend on the interactions that resident microbes have with the environment and each other. Thus, identifying genes that influence these interactions will aid the management of natural communities and the use of microbial consortia as biotechnology. Here, we identified genes that influenced Escherichia coli fitness during cooperative growth with a mutualistic partner, Rhodospeudomonas palustris. Although this mutualism centers on the bidirectional exchange of essential carbon and nitrogen, E. coli fitness was positively and negatively affected by genes involved in diverse cellular processes. Furthermore, we discovered an unexpected purine cross-feeding interaction. These results contribute knowledge on the genetic foundation of a microbial cross-feeding interaction and highlight that unanticipated interactions can occur even within engineered microbial communities.
Translating patients' concerns to prioritise health care interventions

L'amelioration de la qualite des soins constitue un moyen important pour assurer l'efficacite des interventions de sante publique. La premiere etape dans l'amelioration continue de la qualite est de definir le point de depart et les priorites permettant aux equipes de soins de selectionner les options les plus efficientes. L'instrument scientifique utilise dans notre etude etait un questionnaire, detaillant les differentes dimensions du sejour du patient, c.a. d son parcours a travers les differentes procedures au cours de son hospitalisation, en l'occurrence: les aspects relationnels, l'information sur la maladie et les examens complementaires, les conditions du sejour, le suivi medical, la relation avec le medecin et l'organisation de la sortie. Le questionnaire requiert la reponse a 38 questions, rapportees selon une echelle ordinale pour la perception de la pratique de soins et pour l'importance qui lui est accordee par le patient. Ensuite les priorites ont ete etablies en selectionnant les items consideres a la fois importants et insuffisamment percues par le patient. Nos resultats illustrent la necessite d'ameliorer certaines mesures en rapport avec la qualite des soins a l'hopital. Il y a un besoin d'ameliorer la communication medecin malade, particulierement l'information et le soutien psychologique. Les malades percoivent un manque de tranquillite dans le service, une necessite que leurs familles soient plus impliquees dans le suivi medical et un manque de coordination dans le service. Les resultats montrent la necessite de mettre en place des mesures prioritaires dans l'amelioration de la qualite. Elles devraient faire l'objet d'un programme d'amelioration continue de la qualite visant a optimiser le sejour du patient a l'hopital.
Effect of seasonal variation on softwood grafting under different environmental conditions in jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels.)

An investigation was carried out to standardize the season and propagation environment for softwood grafting in jamun under open and mist chamber conditions during 2014–15 at monthly interval of September 2014-February 2015. Among the different months undertaken, grafting performed during September recorded highest graft success (75.24%), graft survival (71.45%), minimum number of days (23.28) for sprouting, maximum leaf area (32.45 cm2), graft diameter (0.48 cm) and graft height (33.13 cm). However, growth parameters viz., number of sprouts (2.54), sprout length (3.68 cm) and number of leaves (9.70) were found to be better in grafts performed in the month of February. Results on the influence of propagation environment on success of softwood grafting showed that grafts kept under mist chamber recorded minimum number of days (17.17) for sprouting, highest graft success (92.36%), graft survival (89.51%) and all other growth parameters (number of sprouts, sprout length, number of leaves, leaf area, graft height and graft diameter). Thus, the study clearly revealed that grafts performed during September under mist chamber gave maximum graft success and graft growth.