Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross-country determinants of citizens' e-government reuse intention: empirical evidence from Kuwait and Poland

PurposeDespite the major information technology investments made by public institutions, the reuse of e-government services remains an issue as citizens hesitate to use e-government websites regularly. The purpose of this study is to investigate the cross-country determinants of e-government reuse intention by proposing a theoretical model that integrates constructs from (1) the Delone and McLean IS success model (i.e. system quality, service quality, information quality, perceived value and user satisfaction); (2) the trust and risk models (i.e. citizen trust, overall risk, time risk, privacy risk and psychological risks); and (3) Hofstede's cultural model (i.e. uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism and cross-cultural trust and risk). Design/methodology/approachBased on data from interviews with 81 Kuwaiti citizens and surveys of 1,829 Kuwaiti and Polish citizens, this study conducted comprehensive, cross-cultural and comparative analyses of e-government reuse intention in a cross-country setting.FindingsThe results show that trust is positively associated with citizens' intention to reuse e-government services, whereas risk is negatively associated with citizens' perceived value. This study also found that masculinity–femininity and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with the intention to reuse e-government services and that individualism–collectivism has no significant relationship with reuse intention. This study's findings have important implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and improve e-government success in cross-country settings.Originality/valueThis study developed a parsimonious model of quality, trust, risk, culture and technology reuse that captures country-specific cultural contexts and enables us to conduct a comprehensive, cross-cultural and comparative analysis of e-government reuse intention in the cross-country setting of Kuwait and Poland.
Studies on the variation in concentrations of respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10), NO2 and SO2 in and around Nagpur

The objective of this study is to assess the long-term variation in concentrations of Respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the ambient air of Nagpur (India) during 2011-2018. The pollution data during the above period at three locations, viz., residential (Station-I), industrial (Station-II), and commercial location (Station-III) has been analyzed. The highest daily average concentration of PM10 at residential, industrial, and commercial locations was found 154 microgm/m3, 199 microgm/m3, and 153 microgm/m3, whereas, the average annual concentration at these locations was found 101.87 microgm/m3, 115.37 microgm/m3 and 98.75 microgm/m3, respectively during the above period. The highest daily average concentration of SO2 was found at 18 microgm/m3, 22 microgm/m3 and 19 microgm/m3 and the average annual concentration was 13.25 microgm/m3, 13.5 microgm/m3, 13 microgm/m3 at respective locations. And the highest daily average concentration of NO2 was found 77 microgm/m3, 60 microgm/m3, 60 microgm/m3 and the annual average concentration was 44.125 microgm/m3, 41.825 microgm/m3 and 40.25 microgm/m3 at the respective locations. The exceedance factors for PM10 varied from 'moderate to high' at the residential and commercial locations and from 'high to moderate' at the industrial location. Planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) and ventilation coefficient (VC) were also estimated over the region for 2011-2018. The maximum PBLH and VC observed during the study period was in the summer season, and the minimum was in the post-monsoon season. Annual and Seasonal Air quality index analysis shows that the level of pollution was in the range of SATIFACTORY to MODERATE. A study of seasonal analysis of PM10, SO2 and NO2 showed that the higher concentrations were found in winter relative to summer with the least concentration occurring during the monsoon season. A regression analysis was performed to check PM10's interdependence with other contaminants. A positive association was found between PM10 and SO2 for all seasons. A negative association was found between PM10 and NO2 in summer for all the stations and winter at Station-I and Station-III. Similarly, the correlation between PM10 and meteorological parameters such as wind speed and temperature was found to be negative whereas it was positive for relative humidity.
Reduction of rain effect on wave height estimation from marine X-band radar images using unsupervised generative adversarial networks

ABSTRACT An intelligent single radar image de-raining method based on unsupervised self-attention generative adversarial networks is proposed to improve the accuracy of wave height parameter inversion results. The method builds a trainable end-to-end de-raining model with an unsupervised cycle-consistent adversarial network as an AI framework, which does not require pairs of rain-contaminated and corresponding ground-truth rain-free images for training. The model is trained by feeding rain-contaminated and clean radar images in an unpaired manner, and the atmospheric scattering model parameters are not required as a prior condition. Additionally, a self-attention mechanism is introduced into the model, allowing it to focus on rain clutter when processing radar images. This combines global and local rain clutter context information to output more accurate and clear de-raining radar images. The proposed method is validated by applying it to actual field test data, which shows that compared with the wave height derived from the original rain-contaminated data, the root-mean-square error is reduced by 0.11 m and the correlation coefficient of the wave height is increased by 14% using the de-raining method. These results demonstrate that the method effectively reduces the impact of rain on the accuracy of wave height parameter estimation from marine X-band radar images.
Estimation for counting processes with high-dimensional covariates

Nous cherchons a estimer l’intensite de sauts d’un processus de comptage en presence d’un grand nombre de covariables. Nous proposons deux approches. D’abord, nous considerons une intensite non-parametrique et nous l’estimons par le meilleur modele de Cox etant donne deux dictionnaires de fonctions. Le premier dictionnaire est utilise pour construire une approximation du logarithme du risque de base et le second pour approximer le risque relatif. Nous considerons une procedure Lasso, specifique a la grande dimension, pour estimer simultanement les deux parametres inconnus du meilleur modele de Cox approximant l’intensite. Nous prouvons des inegalites oracles non-asymptotiques pour l’estimateur Lasso obtenu. Dans une seconde partie, nous supposons que l’intensite satisfait un modele de Cox. Nous proposons deux procedures en deux etapes pour estimer les parametres inconnus du modele de Cox. La premiere etape est commune aux deux procedures, il s’agit d’estimer le parametre de regression en grande dimension via une procedure Lasso. Le risque de base est ensuite estime soit par selection de modeles, soit par un estimateur a noyau avec une fenetre choisie par la methode de Goldenshluger et Lepski. Nous etablissons des inegalites oracles non-asymptotiques pour les deux estimateurs du risque de base ainsi obtenus. Nous menons une etude comparative de ces estimateurs sur des donnees simulees, et enfin, nous appliquons les procedures implementees a une base de donnees sur le cancer du sein.
Assessment of Indoor/outdoor Particulate Matter in Residential Building: Tehran Metropolis, Iran

La calidad del aire interior y la predicción de los niveles de contaminación interior se han convertido en temas más importantes para los riesgos para la salud. Esta investigación se investigará la proporción de la concentración de partículas dentro y fuera de las casas residenciales en Teherán. El muestreo de material particulado (PM) se realizó en cuatro temporadas desde agosto de 2020 hasta julio de 2021. Se seleccionaron cuatro estaciones como estaciones de muestreo fijas y el tiempo de muestreo varió de 6 horas a 12 horas. Debido al riesgo de partículas finas y la posibilidad de su impacto en la salud humana, en este estudio se examinaron PM 0.4 y PM 2.5 . Para el muestreo se utilizó un amortiguador virtual de etapas múltiples que atrapa partículas en placas de acero con un flujo de aire constante. Se utilizaron los métodos Microscopio Electrónico de Barrido (SEM) y Espectrometría de Masas de Plasma Acoplado Inductivamente (ICP-MS) para estudiar el tamaño, la morfología y la composición química y analizar la concentración total de material particulado (PM). Los resultados mostraron que en la mayoría de las estaciones, la penetración de partículas exteriores en el edificio en la estación fría fue mayor que en la estación cálida. Debido al uso de ventilación natural en la mayoría de los edificios residenciales del área de estudio, la relación I/O de PM 2.5 y PM 0.4 fue en promedio superior a 0.752. En algunas estaciones en marzo, abril y mayo, la relación I/O fue superior a 0.965. De acuerdo con estos resultados, en el área oriente, la exposición a material particulado (PM) con un diámetro menor a 0.4 µm fue mayor que en otras áreas. Asimismo, los resultados mostraron que el efecto promedio del factor de ventilación durante el año fue del orden del 38.4%. En tanto, esta cantidad fue de 19.4 y 13% para los factores de cocción y actividad, respectivamente. El efecto promedio de los factores de vida del edificio y tabaquismo fue de 7.6 y 21.6%, respectivamente. Los resultados del método SEM mostraron que la penetración de contaminantes en el exterior del edificio tiene un gran efecto sobre la concentración de partículas en el interior.
Using motivational interviewing to promote teacher efficacy, autonomy-supportive teaching and students’ academic motivation

Abstract Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative communication style used to promote individuals’ motivation, and there is growing support for using MI in schools. This study aims to test whether a teacher-focused intervention program based on MI and autonomy-supportive teaching increases teachers’ autonomy-supportive teaching, teacher efficacy and students’ academic motivation and perceptions of autonomy support. In this intervention study with a short-term longitudinal design, teachers were trained in MI and autonomy-supportive teaching style, along with a control group in which the students’ teachers did not receive specific training. 14 teachers and 478 students (10–12 years) participated in the study. The MI-based intervention were found to significantly increase teachers’ perceived autonomy-supportive teaching and sense of efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management from Time 1 to Time 2. However, the intervention did not increase students’ academic motivation or perceptions of teacher autonomy support over time. The current study indicate that school-based MI may be more important for teachers’ professional development than for younger students’ academic motivation. This study demonstrates that MI training can have an impact on teachers’ instructional behaviors and increase teacher efficacy, providing valuable insights for both teacher education and school leaders.
Children's data and privacy online: Growing up in a digital age

Adolescents in the age of technology face a variety of security issues, but one of the most significant ones, that needs to be addressed by legislators, is privacy and data protection. Research has shown that children's rights, especially children's privacy, are regulated by a large number of international regulations. At the European level, both the European Union and the Council of Europe guarantee the rights to privacy and data protection. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act is the relevant act in the US. The most common violations of children's data and privacy have been found to be online data sharing and mobile application data collection practices. Children's privacy on the Internet can be improved by better communication between parents and children regarding Internet use, educating children about cyber security and online threats, using parental control software, installing antivirus programs on devices used by children and the like.
Relationship between hypercholesterolemia and sleep quality among older adults

Background: Hypercholesterolemia refers to the buildup of fat in the blood, leading to the accumulation of fatty deposits on the walls of blood vessels, known as atherosclerosis. High cholesterol levels can adversely affect health, including the sleep quality of the older adults, leading to physical and psychological health issues. Objective: This study aims to examine the relationship between hypercholesterolemia and sleep quality among older adults. Methods: A cross-sectional design was utilized in this study, with a sample size of 60 respondents selected through purposive sampling. Data collection involved the use of a cholesterol level observation sheet and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using the Spearman Rank correlation. Results: The results revealed a significant relationship between hypercholesterolemia and sleep quality in the older adults (p < 0.0001; r = 0.802). This indicates a positive correlation between hypercholesterolemia and sleep quality among the older adults. Conclusions: The study concludes that as hypercholesterolemia levels become more normalized, sleep quality improves. Conversely, higher levels of hypercholesterolemia are associated with poorer sleep quality in the older adults.
Deficiency of forests

Abstract An edge-magic total labeling of an (n,m)-graph G = (V,E) is a one to one map λ from V(G) ∪ E(G) onto the integers {1,2,…,n + m} with the property that there exists an integer constant c such that λ(x) + λ(y) + λ(xy) = c for any xy ∈ E(G). It is called super edge-magic total labeling if λ (V(G)) = {1,2,…,n}. Furthermore, if G has no super edge-magic total labeling, then the minimum number of vertices added to G to have a super edge-magic total labeling, called super edge-magic deficiency of a graph G, is denoted by μs(G) [4]. If such vertices do not exist, then deficiency of G will be + ∞. In this paper we study the super edge-magic total labeling and deficiency of forests comprising of combs, 2-sided generalized combs and bistar. The evidence provided by these facts supports the conjecture proposed by Figueroa-Centeno, Ichishima and Muntaner-Bartle [2].
Measurement and Analysis of Electromagnetic Pulse from Laser-Target Interaction at ShenGuang II Laser Facility

Abstract Electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated from lasers interacting with solid targets at the ShenGuang II laser facility were measured and analyzed in this work. The EMP radiations were related to the target geometries, where the strongest EMP signal with a magnitude of 103 V and duration of several dozens of nanoseconds resulted from the monopole flat coil and Au foil targets. The EMPs detected inside the laser facility were seriously affected by the chamber wall, which could reflect EMPs and prolong the signals with several typical pulsed peaks. This study was expected not only to provide basic information to interpret physical processes caused by laser irradiating targets but also to offer a path for electromagnetic interference shielding designs and protect the diagnostics from damage in inertial confinement fusion.
Did Mīrdāmād believe in the primacy of quiddity?

ABSTRACT Some scholars showed that Mīrdāmād believed in the ‘primacy of quiddity’ by adducing his theory of ‘the simple act of creation’ in which an entity’s quiddity is the ‘object‘ of the act of creation, and by adducing his belief that ‘existence‘ is constructed. Some other passages in Mīrdāmād’s work reinforce such attribution, made by his prominent student, Mullā Ṣadrā and his followers. This article offers a careful account of Mīrdāmād’s theory of ‘simple act of creation’ to assess the accuracy or inaccuracy of this attribution, and to provide a precise picture of quiddity in his philosophical system. The authors concluded that Mīrdāmād’s idea about ‘quiddity’ as the ‘object’ of creation by no means implies the primacy of quiddity as understood by Mullā Ṣadrā. By explicating his theory of ‘the simple act of creation’, they showed that it does’ imply the primacy of quiddity.
Offline estimation of origin-destination matrices using simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation algorithm

The origin-destination (OD) matrix is the important input in many transportation planning problems. Recently various traffic simulation softwares has become available, which made it possible to perform the assignment of OD matrix to transportation network in more efficient way. Use of simulation brought up a need for efficient simulation optimization techniques, that can be applied to the OD matrix estimation problem. Recent research showed some inspiring results on the performance of Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) alorithm. The aim of this research is to justify the use of SPSA for OD estimation, test the performance of the algorithm and develop the modification that can improve it.
Pharmaceutical sales and marketing as a future career for pharmacy students in Iraq: perception and barriers

The exposure of pharmacy students to fieldwork experience throughout the early stages of their education would assist prepare them for their future career. Many students feel working in community pharmacies does not give a profitable wage when compared to other opportunities. which might influence them to choose the promotional pharmaceutical field. This study aims to examine students' perceptions of the pharmaceutical promotional sector as a potential future profession as well as the obstacles they face. This is a cross-sectional study targeting students of pharmacy in Iraq through an online questionnaire to assess students' perceptions. The perceptions were evaluated to determine the influencing factors. The greatest percentage of students work for improving their skills and for saving money for the future. Concerning the barriers that students face in pursuing a career in pharmaceutical marketing, the existence of unethical actions, as well as a lack of needed skills and knowledge, were cited as barriers by a greater percentage of respondents. In conclusion, generally, there is a favorable view of working in this industry and there is an apparent need for colleges to focus more on the aspects of this career.
Motion-Robust Respiratory Rate Estimation From Camera Videos via Fusing Pixel Movement and Pixel Intensity Information

Recently, noncontact monitoring of respiratory rate (RR) based on consumer-level cameras has gained increasing attention. However, motion artifacts with large amplitudes usually contaminate subtle video-extracted respiratory signals, challenging the performance of video-based RR estimation. To address this problem, we propose to estimate RR by fusing the pixel movement source and the pixel intensity source on both feature and decision levels. Specifically, rigid motion artifacts are first separately denoised from each source by spectral subtraction (SS), while canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is then taken to further extract the underlying common respiratory signals existing within both sources. The two respiratory signals reconstructed from retaining the canonical variates (CVs) with a correlation coefficient larger than a threshold are treated as the fused results of the two sources at a feature level. Finally, the target RR value is determined by fusing all obtained RR results from both sources on a decision level, with weights calculated by signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of each respiratory signal. The performance of the proposed two-level fusion method is evaluated on the in-house BSIPL-RR database including 30 healthy subjects, performing diverse motions while breathing during natural lighting conditions. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method, with the root mean square error (RMSE) up to 1.61 breaths per minute (bpm) during the rest scenario, 2.29 bpm during the walking scenario, 3.51 bpm during the running scenario and 2.96 bpm during the variety scenario. This study will broaden the application scopes of noncontact RR detection technique based on cameras.
Dead Time Compensation for High-Flux Ranging

Dead time effects have been considered a major limitation for fast data acquisition in various time-correlated single photon counting applications, since a commonly adopted approach for dead time mitigation is to operate in the low-flux regime where dead time effects can be ignored. Through the application of lidar ranging, this paper explores the empirical distribution of detection times in the presence of dead time and demonstrates that an accurate statistical model can result in reduced ranging error with shorter data acquisition time when operating in the high-flux regime. Specifically, we show that the empirical distribution of detection times converges to the stationary distribution of a Markov chain. Depth estimation can then be performed by passing the empirical distribution through a filter matched to the stationary distribution. Moreover, based on the Markov chain model, we formulate the recovery of arrival distribution from detection distribution as a nonlinear inverse problem and solve it via provably convergent mathematical optimization. By comparing per-detection Fisher information for depth estimation from high- and low-flux detection time distributions, we provide an analytical basis for possible improvement of ranging performance resulting from the presence of dead time. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our formulation and algorithm via simulations of lidar ranging.