Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interest group access in CEE in the healthcare sector

For the functioning of any democracy, the voice of the civil society, its interests, its demands, and inputs are of utmost importance (Dahl, 1961). Besides political parties, interest groups serve as intermediators to voice the demands of society (Schmidt, 2010). However, weaknesses in interest intermediation systems have increased as recent research shows (Olejnik, 2020; Ost, 2011). Even though formal institutions exist, Crouch warns of a legitimation crisis if civil society grows weaker and impacts the political process less and less (Crouch, 2004). In political systems where the input function of organized interests is impaired, the main channel for citizens to raise their voices in the political process (Dür & De Bièvre, 2007) vanishes. This puts pressure on any democratic system since it ceases to be accountable to its citizens. Contrarily, in some cases, only certain groups may have access to the decision-making process, which is also problematic because it undermines the legitimacy of the system. In this context, especially the young Central and Eastern European (CEE) democracies might find it difficult to ensure legitimacy as civil society participation has traditionally been weak (Howard, 2003). As nearly three decades have passed since the transition, it is worth exploring how and whose interests find their way into the policymaking system. In a broader context, this is a crucial determinant of the quality of democratic regimes (Berg-Schlosser, 2004). Only a few studies have systematically measured interest group influence per se (Dür, 2008b; Klüver, 2009; Mahoney, 2007), while even less research has been conducted on CEE (for exceptions see, e.g., Gallai, Döme, Molnár, & Reich, 2015). As numerous authors have already laid the foundation for measuring the influence of interest groups focusing on the western European countries, the European Union (EU), and the United States of America (USA) (Dür & De Bièvre, 7
Digital markets, competition regimes and models of capitalism: A comparative institutional analysis of European and US responses to Google

The comparative capitalism literature examined how institutions vary on a national or societal level and how these differences affect multinational companies’ strategies. Yet, little attention has been devoted to cross-national or regional differences in the governance of competition, especially in the context of digitalization of markets. The article seeks to fill this gap by looking at the case of Google. It traces the process of the stark US–EU disagreement over Google’s abuse of dominant position in digital markets, which resulted in one of the largest fines in the EU history. It is argued that the variation in the response to the company’s market and nonmarket strategies are traced back to differences between Ordoliberal and Chicago School ideas, which are embedded in the ‘competition regimes’ of European and US capitalist models. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for varieties of capitalism frameworks.
First-order necessary conditions of optimality for the optimal control of two-dimensional convective Brinkman–Forchheimer equations with state constraints

This work is concerned about some distributed optimal control problems governed by two-dimensional convective Brinkman–Forchheimer (CBF) equations, which describe the motion of incompressible viscous fluid through a rigid, homogeneous, isotropic, porous medium. We address a distributed optimal control problem of minimizing a suitable cost functional subjected to 2D CBF equations with state constraints. We establish the existence of an optimal solution and obtain the first-order necessary conditions of optimality for such optimal control problems.
COCREATE: a self-directed learning approach to agricultural extension programmes

ABSTRACT Participation has been proposed to improve agricultural extension programmes in developing countries. This paper reports on experience with COCREATE, an approach to agricultural extension programmes that supports agricultural chain actors in self-directed learning in action research with smallholder farmers and local traders in Indonesia. This approach resulted in the changes in relation and task division between farmers and their local traders in the agricultural production and supply and chains, improved their market position and in new institutions.
Evaluating the SSEBop and RSPMPT Models for Irrigated Fields Daily Evapotranspiration Mapping with MODIS and CMADS Data

It is of great convenience to map daily evapotranspiration (ET) by remote sensing for agricultural water management without computing each surface energy component. This study used the operational simplified surface energy balance (SSEBop) and the remote sensing-based Penman–Monteith and Priestly–Taylor (RSPMPT) models to compute continuous daily ET over irrigated fields with the MODIS and CMADS data. The estimations were validated with eddy covariance (EC) measurements. Overall, the performance of RSPMPT with locally calibrated parameters was slightly better than that of SSEBop, with higher NSE (0.84 vs. 0.78) and R2 (0.86 vs. 0.81), lower RMSE (0.78 mm·d−1 vs. 0.90 mm·d−1), although it had higher bias (0.03 mm·d−1 vs. 0.01 mm·d−1) and PBias (1.41% vs. 0.59%). Due to the consideration of land surface temperature, the SSEBop was more sensitive to ET’s change caused by irrigation before sowing in March and had a lower PBias (6.7% vs. 39.8%) than RSPMPT. On cloudy days, the SSEBop is more likely to overestimate ET than the RSPMPT. To conclude, driven by MODIS and CMADS data, the two simple models can be easily applied to map daily ET over cropland. The SSEBop is more practical in the absence of measured data to optimize the RSPMPT model parameters.
Does a difference in ice sheets between Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 5a affect the duration of stadials?

Abstract. Glacial periods undergo frequent climate shifts between warm interstadials and cold stadials on a millennial time-scale. Recent studies have shown that the duration of these climate modes varies with the background climate; a colder background climate and lower CO2 generally results in a shorter interstadial and a longer stadial through its impact on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). However, the duration of stadials was shorter during the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) compared with MIS5, despite the colder climate in MIS3, suggesting potential control from other climate factors on the duration of stadials. In this study, we investigated the role of glacial ice sheets. For this purpose, freshwater hosing experiments were conducted with an atmosphere–ocean general circulation model under MIS5a, MIS3 and MIS3 with MIS5a ice sheet conditions. The impact of ice sheet differences on the duration of the stadials was evaluated by comparing recovery times of the AMOC after freshwater forcing was reduced. Hosing experiments showed a slightly shorter recovery time of the AMOC in MIS3 compared with MIS5a, which was consistent with ice core data. We found that larger glacial ice sheets in MIS3 shortened the recovery time. Sensitivity experiments showed that stronger surface winds over the North Atlantic shortened the recovery time by increasing the surface salinity and decreasing the sea ice amount in the deepwater formation region, which set favourable conditions for oceanic convection. In contrast, we also found that surface cooling by larger ice sheets tended to increase the recovery time of the AMOC by increasing the sea ice thickness over the deepwater formation region. Thus, this study suggests that the larger ice sheet in MIS3 compared with MIS5a could have contributed to the shortening of stadials in MIS3, despite the climate being colder than that of MIS5a, when the effect of surface wind played a larger role.
Green synthesis of silver nanoclusters via Melia azedarach plant and their potential towards catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol

Biomolecules present in the plant extracts have potential to reduce metal ions to nanoclusters by a single-step green synthesis approach. In the current study, we have synthesized the silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) from a medicinal plant, Melia azedarach and studied their catalytic activity toward the reduction of 4-nitophenol to 4-aminophenol and organic dyes. Morover, the phytochemical analysis of the plant extract was carried out in order to determine the bioactive compounds present in it. Metallic nature of the synthesized AgNCs was verified by X-ray diffraction study, while their morphology and size of was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and Zetasizer, respectively. The study revealed that they were 56±2 nm in size and formed clusters. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy gives information about the different functional groups present in synthesized these NCs. Furthermore, the important catalytic applications, such as catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol in the presence of mild reducing agent NaBH4 and the catalytic degradation of organic dyes was monitored by FTIR. Therefore, these results indicate that the obtained nanomaterials have important applications in industrial areas. KEY WORDS: Green synthesis, Silver nanoclusters, Catalytic reduction, Characterization Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2021, 35(1), 197-206. DOI: https://dx.doi. org/10.4314/bcse.v35i1. 17
Evolución del uso de las TIC por parte de los adolescentes en los últimos años: luces y sombras

Abstract. INTRODUCCIÓN. Estudios recientes muestran que el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) se generaliza entre los adolescentes y que persisten los inconvenientes derivados; de ahí, el interés por la evolución de esta relación jóvenes-tecnologías. MÉTODO. Este artículo compara resultados obtenidos en 2013 con un cuestionario cumplimentado por una muestra representativa (1.032 estudiantes de ESO) con otra más reducida (235) de similar alumnado tomada en 2019. El objetivo es observar los cambios sobre el uso de Internet, su influjo en el rendimiento académico y la vulnerabilidad de los jóvenes frente a las TIC. Para la comparativa se usa el programa de tratamiento de datos SPSS, aunque con un alcance exploratorio. RESULTADOS. Se observa una disminución tanto de efectos positivos como negativos; se constata también un uso prudente de la red, pero un mayor porcentaje de los que sienten amenazas. Además, los afectados sufren en solitario sus problemas en mayor grado. DISCUSIÓN. Se confirma la normalización del uso de TIC advertido en estudios recientes, junto con efectos negativos diversos. Ante esta doble tendencia, conviene seguir empoderando a los adolescentes en usar responsablemente las TIC, de modo que se normalice también la petición de ayuda, especialmente por parte de los afectados más negativamente. Palabras clave: educación; tecnologías de la información y comunicación; adolescencia; cambio de actitud; relaciones entre pares.
Uptake Prediction of Eight Potentially Toxic Elements by Pistia stratiotes L. Grown in the Al-Sero Drain (South Nile Delta, Egypt): A Biomonitoring Approach

The potential to utilise the free-floating macrophyte Pistia stratiotes L. to survey contamination of the Al-Sero Drain in the South Nile Delta, Egypt, by eight potentially toxic elements (PTEs) was investigated in this study. This study considered the absorption of eight PTEs (Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn), and the evaluated P. stratiotes were located in three sampling locations along the Al-Sero Drain, with sampling conducted in both monospecific and homogenous P. stratiotes. Samples of both types of P. stratiotes and water were collected on a monthly basis between May 2013 and April 2014 at each location, utilising three randomly chosen 0.5 × 0.5 m quadrats. Regression models were designed to predict the concentration of the PTEs within the plant’s shoot and root systems. Elevated water Fe levels were correlated with a rise in shoot system Fe concentration, whereas higher Ni concentrations in the water led to a higher Ni concentration within the root system. The latter was also true for Pb. Water Cu levels had a negative association with the Cu concentration within the P. stratiotes shoot system. Raised Fe levels were also correlated with a diminished Fe level within the roots. For all PTEs, P. stratiotes was characterised by a bioconcentration factor of more than 1.0, and for the majority by a translocation factor of less than 1.0. The goodness of fit for most of the designed models, as indicated by high R2 values and low mean averaged errors, demonstrated the associations between actual and predicted PTE concentrations. Any disparity between measured and predicted parameters failed to reach significance with Student t-tests, reinforcing the predictive abilities of the designed models. Thus, these novel models have potential value for the prediction of PTE uptake by P. stratiotes macrophytes inhabiting the Al-Sero Drain. Furthermore, the macrophyte’s constituents indicate the long-term impact of water contamination; this supports the potential future use of P. stratiotes for biomonitoring the majority of the PTEs evaluated in this study.
A Review of Power System Fault Diagnosis with Spiking Neural P Systems

With the advancement of technologies it is becoming imperative to have a stable, secure and uninterrupted supply of power to electronic systems as well as to ensure the identification of faults occurring in these systems quickly and efficiently in case of any accident. Spiking neural P system (SNPS) is a popular parallel distributed computing model. It is inspired by the structure and functioning of spiking neurons. It belongs to the category of neural-like P systems and is well-known as a branch of the third generation neural networks. SNPS and its variants can perform the task of fault diagnosis in power systems efficiently. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of these models, which can perform the task of fault diagnosis in transformers, power transmission networks, traction power supply systems, metro traction power supply systems, and electric locomotive systems. Furthermore, we discuss the use of these models in fault section estimation of power systems, fault location identification in distribution network, and fault line detection. We also discuss a software tool which can perform the task of fault diagnosis automatically. Finally, we discuss future research lines related to this topic.
Application of Bone Morphogenetic Protein in Spinal Fusion Surgery

Lumbar and cervical fusions are one of the most common types of spine surgeries performed globally with approximated 450,000 spinal fusion surgeries performed annually. (give reference) Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs) are secreted cytokines with several functions, within the TGF-b superfamily. BMP act as a disulfide-linked homo- or heterodimers and have been recognized as strong and effective regulators of important biological processes like formation and repair of osteocytes and chondrocytes, cell proliferation during embryonic development. Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) is a very effective osteogenic growth factor that has been demonstrated to be effective in different types of spinal fusions and reduces the reliance on the use autologous iliac crest bone graft. In recent years there have been limitations regarding the use of rhBMP-2 because of issues like high costs, benefits, and safety issues about rhBMP-2. In this review, a comprehensive overview about the application of rhBMP-2 in spinal fusion surgery is given.
Multiscale Nature of the Magnetotail Reconnection Onset

Mining of substorm magnetic field data reveals the formation of two X‐lines preceded by the flux accumulation at the tailward end of a thin current sheet (TCS). Three‐dimensional particle‐in‐cell simulations guided by these pre‐onset reconnection features are performed, taking also into account weak external driving, negative charging of TCS and domination of electrons as current carriers. Simulations reveal an interesting multiscale picture. On the global scale, they show the formation of two X‐lines, with stronger magnetic field variations and inhomogeneous electric fields found closer to Earth. The X‐line appearance is preceded by the formation of two diverging electron outflow regions embedded into a single diverging ion outflow pattern and transforming into faster electron‐scale reconnection jets after the onset. Distributions of the agyrotropy parameters suggest that reconnection is provided by ion and then electron demagnetization. The bulk flow and agyrotropy distributions are consistent with MMS observations.
Individual Differences on Conservative and Risky Behaviors about Information Security

Bilgi guvenligi konusunda donanimsal ve yazilimsal cozumler genis bir sekilde kullanilmakta, arastirma ve gelistirme cabalari gun ve gun artmakta ve bu konuda buyuk miktarda yatirimlar yapilmaktadir. Ancak, bireylerin zarar goremeye egilimli davranislarinin sebep oldugu hatalardan dolayi, bu ugraslar bilisim sistemlerinin guvenliginin asilmasina hala engel olamamaktadir. Bireyler bilgi guvenligi konusunda yeterli bilgileri olsa dahi bu bilgiyi her zaman davranisa donusturememektedirler. Bu sebeple bilgi guvenligi sadece teknolojik cozumler ile ustesinden gelinebilecek bir problem degildir. Bilgi guvenligi konusunda zincirin en zayif halkasi olarak kabul edilen insan davranislari da degerlendirilerek bu yondeki calismalara dâhil edilmelidir. Bu calisma ile bireylerin bilgi guvenligi konusunda sergiledigi riskli ve korumaci davranislar ile demografik, internet kullanim aliskanliklari, kisilik, tehlike algisi ve suca maruz kalmadan olusan bireysel farkliliklari arasindaki iliski incelenmeye calisilmistir. Davranis ve bireysel farkliliklar sosyal medya platformlari uzerinden davet edilen 619 kisinin katildigi bir anket kullanilarak incelenmistir. Coklu lineer regresyon analizinin kullanilarak lineer bir modelin olusturulmasi ile bireysel farkliliklar olan bagimsiz degiskenlerin riski ve korumaci davranislar uzerindeki meydana getirdigi degisimin boyutu hesaplanmistir. Buna gore egitim duzeyi, yas, internet kullanim yili, internette gecirilen zaman, uyumluluk, nevrotizm, gelisime aciklik, suca maruziyet durumu ve tehlike algisi riskli davranislari; internette gecirilen zaman, uyumluluk, ozdenetim ve gelisime aciklik korumaci davranislari etkileyen onemli degiskenler olarak bulunmustur. Calismanin sonuclari organizasyonlarin veya egitim birimlerinin kisisellestirilmis ve uyarlanabilir egitim programlari gelistirmeleri icin kullanilabilecegi gibi bu sonuclardan onleyici stratejiler olusturmak icin de faydalanilabilir.
Studying the Genetic Diversity of Yam Bean Using a New Draft Genome Assembly

Yam bean (Pachyrhizus erosus Rich. Ex DC.) is an underutilized leguminous crop which has been used as a food source across central America and Asia. It is adapted to a range of environments and is closely related to major leguminous food crops, offering the potential to understand the genetic basis of environmental adaptation, and it may be used as a source of novel genes and alleles for the improvement of other legumes. Here, we assembled a draft genome of P. erosus of 460 Mbp in size containing 37,886 gene models. We used this assembly to compare three cultivars each of P. erosus and the closely related P. tuberosus and identified 10,187,899 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The SNP distribution reflects the geographic origin and morphology of the individuals.
Mask Up: Exploring Cross-Cultural Influences on Mask-Making Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people from around the world made numerous homemade masks for themselves and their community due to shortage of medical masks as well as to stop the spread of COVID-19. The purpose of the current study was to conduct cross cultural exploration of the reasons for making masks, self-construal and wellbeing associated with masks making by collecting data from residents across US, India, and China. The finding of this study presented different reasons for making masks as well as self-construal, and wellbeing in people who made masks versus those who did not. Differences were also observed among three different cultural groups. This study offers a unique contribution to the public health research engaging in craft making related activities to gain a better perspective of the state of health of a population and the understanding of cross-cultural study of craft making behavior during the pandemic.
Effects of Branch Number on Quality Traits and Yield Properties of European Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.)

Despite being the world leader in the production of hazelnuts, Turkey’s nut yield per hectare is quite behind other producer countries. The main reasons for low yield are the completion of the economic life of hazelnut orchards and the lack of pruning following the technique. Hazelnuts are being grown with the ‘ocak’ system in Turkey. The ocak system is a bush-like growing technique that does not contain the main trunk but consists of shoots instead. It is necessary to maintain the optimum number of shoots per ocak to increase yield and quality in this system. The effects of different branch numbers on yield and fruit quality parameters of ‘Tombul’ and ‘Palaz’ hazelnut cultivars were investigated in Ordu ecological conditions. ‘Palaz’ had the highest yield per ocak in 8 branches (1460.19 g), while ‘Tombul’ had in the 5 branched ocak (2170.47 g). ‘Palaz’ and ‘Tombul’ had the highest fruit weights in 4 and 4–6 branches, respectively. The highest oil ratio of ‘Palaz’ was observed in 4 branches, while ‘Tombul’ had the highest in 5 branches. The highest kernel ratio was determined in 6 and 5 branches in ‘Palaz’ and ‘Tombul’, respectively. The ocaks with 4 and 5 branches were mostly expressed higher values, and it is foreseen that the number of branches should not exceed 6 to reduce the competition of the branches and to obtain good quality products.
The Impact of Regulatory Reforms on Demand Weighted Average Prices

Average prices are popularly used in the literature on price modeling. Calculating daily or weekly prices as an average over hourly or half-hourly trading periods assumes the same weight ignoring demand or traded volumes during those periods. Analyzing demand weighted average prices is important if producers may affect prices by decreasing them during low-demand periods and increasing them during high-demand periods within a day. The prediction of this price manipulation might have motivated the regulatory authority to introduce price caps not only on annual average prices but also on annual demand weighted average prices in the England and Wales wholesale electricity market. The dynamics of demand weighted average prices of electricity has been analyzed little in the literature. We show that skew generalized error distribution (SGED) is the appropriate assumption for model residuals. The estimated volatility model is used for evaluating the impact of regulatory reforms on demand weighted average prices during the complete history of the England and Wales wholesale electricity market.
Climate finance governance through transnational networks

ABSTRACT Climate finance can be characterized by insufficiently firm goal setting and by a highly fragmented governance architecture composed of loosely coordinated institutions. Transnational networks can fill this governance gap to steer climate finance in such a situation. This paper examines 63 climate finance networks, including public, private, and hybrid ones, to analyse networks’ functions and determine when they emerged and how they are institutionalized. Most of the networks arose recently when bottom-up efforts began to be widely adopted as a way to mainstream finance combating climate change. In contrast to public networks, private and hybrid networks more frequently display firmly defined forms of institutionalization, such as requirements for members to pay a fee and carry out compulsory actions. In addition, private and hybrid networks tend to take on the governance functions of target setting and rule making more than public networks.