Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Individuals with Functional Difficulty, Disability, and Comorbid Conditions: Insights from a National Survey in Bangladesh (preprint)

Background: COVID-19 vaccine coverage among individuals with disabilities is crucial for safeguarding their health and well-being. However, the extent of vaccine coverage among this group remains largely unknown in low- and middle-income countries. This study aims to explore the COVID-19 vaccine coverage among persons with functional difficulty, disability and/or morbidity in Bangladesh. Methods: Data from 9,370 respondents extracted from the 2021 National Household Survey on Persons with Disability were analysed. The outcome variable was the receipt of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (yes, no). Key explanatory variables included the presence of disability (yes, no), morbidity (yes, no), and both morbidity and disability (yes, no) among persons with functional difficulty. The relationship between the outcome and explanatory variables was determined using multilevel logistic regressions adjusted for covariates. Results: The overall acceptance rate for at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among persons with functional difficulty was 57.37%, among persons with functional difficulty and disability was 48.63% and among persons with functional difficulty and single (57.85%) or multi-morbidity (60.37%). Compared to the respondents with functional difficulty only, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of acceptance of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for individuals with both functional difficulty and disability was 0.73 (95% CI, 0.65-0.82) and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.70-0.87) for individuals with functional difficulty, disability and one or more comorbid conditions. The aOR for individuals with functional difficulty and one or more morbid conditions was significantly higher than that for persons with functional difficulty only. Conclusion: In Bangladesh, COVID-19 vaccine coverage was relatively low among individuals with disabilities. The existing COVID-19 vaccine rollout programs and similar future programs should prioritise individuals with disabilities and include targeted strategies to reach them.
Exploring Bitcoin dynamics against the backdrop of COVID-19: an investigation of major global events

COVID-19 has significantly influenced global financial markets, including Bitcoin. Recent studies have focused on investigating the first wave of the COVID-19 out-break and accounting for market changes, which were mostly due to the pandemic. This research not only analyzes the contagion effects of COVID-19 but also considers aftermath events beyond the first pandemic wave to examine spillovers of Bitcoin. The study employs Diebold and Yilmaz’s method to explore the static and dynamic spillovers of the selected variables and identifies several major global events, including crypto-specific affairs, macroeconomic policies, and geopolitical conflicts, to explain the new market dynamics of Bitcoin using network analysis. The findings identify a few high-contagion periods related to Bitcoin. The paper also found that Bit-coin is more likely to produce extreme returns and is more connected to other markets. Contagion effects “from” and “to” other markets are asymmetrical in terms of arrival time and market response. Bitcoin is more likely to be affected by other markets in extreme situations and receives spillovers from them sooner than it transmits spillovers to others. In the context of various global events, impacts arising from developed countries are stronger. China still has some impact on cryptocurrency markets, but they are waning. Bitcoin is thus not a safe haven from the shocks of global events, but can sometimes work as a hedge or diversifier. The results offer alternative explanations for Bitcoin’s different market dynamics and enrich our understanding of Bitcoin’s safe haven, hedge, and diversifier properties within a diversified portfolio.
How are texts analyzed in blockchain research? A systematic literature review

This paper provides a systematic literature review of text analysis methodologies used in blockchain-related research to comprehend and synthesize existing studies across disciplines and define future research directions. We summarize the research scope, text data, and methodologies of 124 papers and identify the two most common combinations of these dimensions: (1) papers that focus on specific cryptocurrencies tend to apply sentiment analysis to instant user-generated content or news articles to discover the correlations between public opinion and market behavior, and (2) studies that examine the broad concept of blockchain with text data from documents published by companies tend to apply topic modeling techniques to explore classifications and trends in blockchain development. We discover five major research topics in the academic literature: relationship discovery, cryptocurrency performance prediction, classification and trend, crime and regulation, and perception of blockchain. Based on these findings, we highlight three potential research directions for researchers to select topics and implement suitable methodologies for text
Bearing Capacity Analysis and Zoning of Kathmandu for Shallow Foundations

The bearing capacity of foundation is the primary concern in the field of geotechnical engineering. In this study numerical models are developed for each of the secondary borehole data collected around Kathmandu valley. Finite element analysis (i.e. PLAXIS 2D) is carried out using Mohr-coulomb failure criteria to represent two dimensional soil models. Foundation is aimed to model as square footing and prescribed settlement of 10% of footing width is provided to obtain corresponding bearing capacity. In plaxis, effective stress is considered as an ultimate bearing capacity. Drained behavior with axisymmetical models have been considered for soil model in plaxis software. Various soil parameters like C (Cohesion), γ (unit weight), Φ (Frictional angle), ν (Poison ratio), E (Elasticity) for each 1.5m and 3m depths have been considered in models and in theoretical approaches.
TRANSITION PREDICTION FOR TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT CONFIGURATIONS BASED ON OVERSET GRID

Laminar-flow aerodynamic design receives great importance by the civil aviation field in recent years. Complex flight conditions and complex configurations give challenges to present CFD techniques especially the transition prediction method and grid generation. This work adopted 𝛾 − 𝑅̃𝑒 𝜃𝑡 local correlation-based transition model and overset meshing strategy to conduct flow simulations of typical civil transport aircraft configurations. A locally helicity-based modeling method for crossflow instability was introduced to extend the three-dimensional transition prediction ability. Results have shown well behavior of the crossflow-extended transition model on surface pressure and force prediction at transonic cruise Mach number. Combining structured overset grid, crossflow-extended transition model can also give better prediction on transition characteristics of the high-lift configuration compared to the baseline transition model. However, high Reynolds number of actual flight condition seemed to exceed the application boundary of present local transition model. Although the predicted pressure coefficient distributions were in good agreement with the experiment results, the predicted transition line was far forward to the leading edge.
Improving Descriptive Defciencies with a Random Selection Loop for 3D Dense Captioning based on Point Clouds

We propose adding a random selection loop to improve descriptive defciencies in 3D dense captioning based on point clouds. Our method determines if descriptions are good or bad from the objectness score corresponding to the object, then if there are bad descriptions, use the next random points to evaluate descriptions and loop this process until no more bad descriptions or when these are no longer reduced, so that defcient descriptions (e.g., “Shelf” is described as “Lamp” as shown in Fig.2) decrease. This loop termination condition is confgurable since it requires adjusting the execution time of evaluating descriptions to be not too long and its accuracy is not somewhat low. As a result, our work outperforms Scan2Cap [9] (14.87% CiDEr@0.5IoU improvement) .
A simulation model of the Devils Hole pupﬁsh population using monthly length-frequency distributions

The Devils Hole pupﬁsh, Cyprinodon diabolis, is a federally-endangered ﬁsh that is endemic to Devils Hole, a discontiguous part of Death Valley National Park in Nye County, Nevada. Due to its status, Devils Hole pupﬁsh monitoring must be non-obtrusive and thereby exclude techniques that require handling ﬁsh. Due to a recent decline in pupﬁsh abundance, Devils Hole pupﬁsh managers have expressed a need for a model that describes population dynamics. This population model would be used to identify vulnerable life history stage(s) and inform management actions. We constructed a set of individual-based simulation models designed to explore effects of population processes and evaluate assumptions. We developed a baseline model, whose output best resembled both observed length-frequency data and predicted intra-annual abundance patterns. We then ran simulations with 5 % increases in egg-larval, juvenile, and adult survival rates to better understand Devils Hole pupﬁsh life history, thereby helping identify vulnerable life history stages that should become the target of management actions. Simulation models with temporally constant adult, juvenile, and egg-larval survival rates were able to reproduce observed length-frequency distributions and predicted intra-annual population patterns. In particular, models with monthly adult and juvenile survival rates of 80 % and an egg-larval survival rate of 4.7 % replicated patterns in observed data. Population growth was most affected by 5 % increases in egg-larval survival, whereas adult and juvenile survival rates had similar but lesser effects on population growth. Outputs from the model were used to assess factors suspected of inﬂuencing Devils Hole pupﬁsh population decline.
The Use of China-based Social Media to Enhance English Speaking Skills in Chinese Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

As English speaking skills become increasingly vital in academic and professional spheres, educators are exploring innovative approaches to language learning and experimenting with integrating social media into speaking learning in higher education. Of course, this shift also presents challenges for both educators and learners. With China's unique technological landscape and a burgeoning population of English learners, understanding the dynamics of utilizing China-based social media for enhancing speaking skills is crucial. However, notable research gap is identified concerning the use of China-based social media for the enhancement of English speaking skills among Chinese university students. Therefore, this review offering a comprehensive exploration of the utilization of China-based social media for the development of English speaking skills within the context of Chinese higher education. The review adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines to ensure a rigorous and methodical analysis. By extracting and analyzing 22 relevant articles from 2017 to 2023 through the Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), this review extensively examines the influencing factors of social media acceptance, the improvement of speaking skills, and the effectiveness of social media use. Based on the findings, the study concludes with implications for educators and recommendations for further research on the use of social media to improve speaking skills.
Evaluation of the antimicrobial properties of unripe banana (Musa sapientum L.), lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus S.) and turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) on pathogens

The investigation on the potency of unripe banana (Musa sapientum L.), lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus S.) and turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) was carried out against pathogens. The formulations were in the powder form as used locally. The antimicrobial activity of these plants was examined using different solvents and efficacy was compared. The solvents were ethanol (70%, v/v) and water. Antimicrobial activity was carried out by the agar well diffusion method. The clinical isolates include aerobic, facultative bacteria namely: Stapyhlococcus aureus ATCC 25921, S. aureus, Salmonella paratyphi, Shigella flexnerii, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Crude extracts of the solvents varied in zones of inhibition. All the Gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus, S. aureus ATCC 25921 and B. subtilis) and all Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli ATCC 25922, E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. paratyphi, S. flexneri and K. pneumonia) were susceptible to ethanolic extracts of unripe banana, lemon grass and turmeric while some namely E. coli ATCC 25922, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. flexneri were not susceptible to aqueous extracts of the three medicinal plants. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) ranged from 4 – 512 mg/ml while the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) ranged from 32 – 512 mg/ml depending on isolates and extracting solvent. Ethanolic extracts showed greater antimicrobial activity than aqueous extracts. The killing rate of the extracts varied. Unripe banana had less than 2 h killing time for S. aureus ATCC 25921, turmeric less than 3 h for E. coli while lemon grass had more than 3 h killing time for S. paratyphi.
Mediating effect of firm efficiency on the controlling shareholdings–firm performance nexus: evidence from public listed firms in Malaysia

This study examines how controlling shareholders influence firm performance through the mediating role of firm efficiency in transforming inputs into outputs. To achieve this objective, it conducts a mediation analysis with 5,000 bootstraps on a dataset of 2,849 firm-year observations of publicly listed firms in Malaysia from 2009 to 2019. The findings reveal a positive relationship between controlling shareholdings and firm performance, with both total and indirect effects having this positive relationship. Moreover, while controlling shareholdings improve firm performance, firm efficiency partially mediates this relationship. Thus, improved firm efficiency plays a critical role in understanding the relationship between governance by controlling shareholders and enhanced firm performance. In summary, this study contributes to the existing literature by expanding our understanding of the complex relationship between controlling shareholdings, firm efficiency, and firm performance. In addition, the findings shed light on the importance of indirect channels in shaping organizational outcomes. As such, this study provides a valuable direction for future research in this area
CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND WORK ENGAGEMENT: WORKPLACE SOCIAL CAPITAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AS MODERATOR AND MEDIATOR

This study aimed to propose a social exchange theory in establishing the effects of career development support on work engagement, using organizational commitment and workplace social capital as mediation and moderation, respectively. It was conducted at the Bank Muamalat Indonesia in Jakarta, using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Model. The results showed that career development support was able to increase work engagement and strengthen the relationship between employees and the company through organizational commitment. In this case, the higher tendency for employees to want, need, and feel obligated to stay in the company subsequently promoted vigour, dedication, and absorption, regarding increased work engagement characteristics. Organizational commitment was also able to partially mediate the relationship between career development and work engagement. Meanwhile, workplace social capital was unable to increase work engagement, although strengthened its relationship with career development support.
The influence of He-Ne Laser (632.8 nm) on Candida albicans isolated from complete upper dentures: In vitro study

The main objective of this study is to determine whether the use of He-Ne Laser (632.8 nm wavelength and power 0.5 mW) is an eligible and effective tool to kill or reduce the cell viability of Candida albicans isolated from complete upper dentures. Twenty one swabs were taken from the complete upper dentures. Only six swabs showed positive cultures for C. albicans. The isolate was divided into two groups, group I was not irradiated (control), and group II was irradiated by He-Ne Laser for different periods (10, 15, 20, and 30) min. After irradiation, the results showed a significant reduction in the viable cell count and colonies diameters especially at exposure periods 10 and 15 min. Although the low power He-Ne Laser was not eradicating the cell itself, but it affected on the viable cell count and colonies diameters comparing with the control.
STRUCTURE AND HYDROCARBONS IN THE SHIPWRECK TROUGH, OTWAY BASIN: HALF-GRABEN GAS FIELDS ABUTTING A CONTINENTAL TRANSFORM

As part of a regional study of the evolution of the Otway Basin, the Investigator 3D seismic survey has been structurally analysed, using 11 extracted 2D sections and 3D interpretations of key horizons. South-southwest directed extension was widespread in the Turonian forming the Shipwreck Trough, coincident with uplift of the Otway Ranges to the northeast. The Turonian extension, at ~1.5 myrs, resulted in planar faults in the northeastern part of the Trough, but large half-graben above south-southwest dipping listric master faults in the southwest, both fault sets soling into an Early Cretaceous shale detachment. The half-graben propagated north from the Mussel-Tarpwaup Hinge-Zone by footwall collapse and accommodated deposition of reservoir rocks for the known hydrocarbon accumulations. The half-graben die out along strike to the east at tip-points against an accommodation zone that developed into a continental transform (the Shipwreck Fault). Santonian breakup in the Great Australian Bight coincided with considerable south-southwesterly extension in the Otway Basin juxtaposed against the failed Bassian rift across the Shipwreck Fault. Extension of ~1.21 km to the west of the Shipwreck Fault contrasts with ~0.42 km on the eastern side accommodated by ~0.79 km left-lateral displacement along the Shipwreck Fault. The Belfast Mudstone was deposited during this time, forming the regional seal for the known hydrocarbon accumulations. Limited slow extension during the Campanian to Early Eocene resulted in a further 0.33 km sinistral slip along the Shipwreck Fault. Late Early Eocene Breakup in the Otway Basin ended the transitional phase, terminating extensional and Shipwreck Fault offset. The breakup caused local uplift and ~1 km erosion of Wangerrip Group sediments. The post breakup phase is characterised by prograding sequences indicating progressive-regressive cycles. The Thylacine and La Bella gas fields occur in large tilted fault-blocks near the Hinge-Zone. These successful large structures lie along a longstanding High probably sourced from south of the Hinge-Zone. Key elements for a successful hydrocarbon play are deposition of the Turonian Waarre Formation sandstone reservoirs at rift onset and of a thick Belfast Mudstone seal during continuous Coniacian-Santonian extension. Footwall collapse north of the Hinge-Zone, bound by the deepwater Otway Basin and the continental transform, controlled the distribution of traps, regional seal and hydrocarbon maturation.
PREDICTION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF SIEVE TRAY USING AIRWATER SYSTEM

This investigation deals with the effect of weir height, liquid and gas flow rate on tray efficiency.The tests were carried out on a single pass cross flow tray of air-water system of 0.3 m diameter for clearliquid height over sieve tray with weir height 3, 4 and 5 cm.Point efficiency values were found to be in the same range for different weir height, but itimproves slightly with weir height. And the average values of point efficiency were 83 % for 3 cm weirheight, 85 % for 4 cm weir height and 89 % for 5 cm weir height. While, point efficiency of 90 % was obtained for 5 cm weir height and liquid flow rate ranging between 5.8 to 7.32 m3/s. In the range of clear liquid height over hole diameter ( hL/dH) between 2 to 10, increasing the Reynolds number ranging between 2.0*105 to 1.6*106 for gas phase increases point efficiency. Prediction of Murphree (Tray) efficiency using Lopez and Castells (1999) equation shows that the ratio of EMV/Ep is equal to 1, due to low value of calculated Peclet number (degree of liquid mixing), which ranged between 0.07 to 1.5.
Selection Criteria for Named Subcontractors: Case Study of a Building Project

The execution of construction projects involves many parties, one of which is subcontractors. In general, subcontractors can be divided into three types, namely domestic subcontractors, nominated subcontractors, and named subcontractors. Many studies have been carried out regarding the first two types of subcontractors, but studies related to named subcontractors are scarce. In contrast to nominated subcontractors, named subcontractors are selected by the main contractor based on a list of subcontractor names provided by the employer. This research aims to identify the criteria in selecting named subcontractors by the main contractor. This research applies a qualitative method approach with integrative literature review and interview techniques. The results show the company's experience, financial capabilities, technical capabilities, resource factors, and offer price factors as important selection criteria. This research contributes to the body of knowledge considering that there are still few studies on named subcontractors, especially regarding its selection criteria by the main contractor.
Cocoa Farmers' Participation in Public and Private Agricultural Extension Delivery in Amenfi Central District, Ghana

Agricultural extension and knowledge management have become key blocks in driving sustainable food systems and rural development, especially in periods of dealing with the complexities surrounding climate change and sustainable food systems in localised systems. This study assessed cocoa farmers' participation in public and private agricultural extension services in Ghana. Using descriptive and inferential statistics and collecting data from 385 farmers, the study reveals that private extension services stand out in various indices: access to information (3.72), communication (3.96), and support and follow-up (3.45), while public extension services excel in social and environmental impact (3.54), and knowledge transfer (3.86). Intricate extension programme dynamics also reveal a clear preference for private extension in citizen power (23.6% vs. 7.3%), delegated power (33.2% vs. 8.6%), and partnership (39.2% vs. 13.5%). Using the binary probit regression model, this study examines how various socio-economic factors influence farmers' participation in extension programmes. Results indicate that key determinants for participation in public extension include gender, level of education, land size, availability of labour, and access to credit. Conversely, factors influencing participation in private extension programmes include membership in farmer groups, land ownership, land size, the availability of labour, and access to credit. Policymakers and extension workers can make extension services more useful and open to everyone by focusing on these socioeconomic factors and creating programmes that meet the unique needs and limitations of various farmer groups. This will ultimately lead to higher agricultural productivity, better livelihoods, and better rural development.