Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From external provision to technological outsourcing: lessons for public sector automation from the outsourcing literature

ABSTRACT Automation is not new, but the possibilities for automation have been significantly expanded in recent years through advancements in artificial intelligence. Such technologies may drive some improvements, although they are not without risk and we lack a solid evidence base to suggest the implications of these changes. Framing AI supported automation as ‘technological outsourcing’, we draw on the well-established outsourcing literature to derive lessons about the possible implications of public sector automation and outline some principles that agencies can use to assist in their decision-making about whether to invest in automation of particular processes.
White Americans’ Opposition to Affirmative Action, Revisited: New Racism, Principled Objections, or Both?

In this short article, we provide an update and extension of Thomas C. Wilson’s study, “Whites’ Opposition to Affirmative Action: Rejection of Group-based Preferences as well as Rejection of Blacks. ” Wilson drew on data from the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS) to revisit a long-standing debate in the racial attitudes literature concerning whether anti-black prejudice (e.g., “new racism”) or ostensibly race-neutral opposition to group-based policies generally (i.e., “principled objections”) is the primary determinant of whites’ opposition to affirmative action in the form of “preferential hiring and promotion for blacks. ” We analyze data from the 2000–2018 GSS to replicate and extend key aspects of Wilson’s work. As in the prior study, we find mixed support for the new racism and principled objections perspectives, providing an important update on white Americans’ beliefs about affirmative action for the twenty-first century.
Audio-Visual Information Fusion Using Cross-Modal Teacher-Student Learning for Voice Activity Detection in Realistic Environments

We propose an information fusion approach to audio-visual voice activity detection (AV-VAD) based on cross-modal teacher-student learning leveraging on factorized bilinear pooling (FBP) and Kullback-Leibler (KL) regularization. First, we design an audio-visual network by using FBP fusion to fully utilize the interaction between audio and video modalities. Next, to transfer the rich information in audio-based VAD (A-VAD) model trained with a massive audio-only dataset to AV-VAD model built with relatively limited multi-modal data, a cross-modal teacher-student learning framework is then proposed based on cross entropy with regulated KL-divergence. Finally, evaluated on an in-house dataset recorded in realistic conditions using standard VAD metrics, the proposed approach yields consistent and signiﬁcant improvements over other state-of-the-art techniques. Moreover, by applying our AV-VAD technique to an audio-visual Chinese speech recognition task, the character error rate is reduced by 24.15% and 8.66% from A-VAD and the baseline AV-VAD systems, respectively.
Analysis of causes of maternal mortality in tertiary care center, 11 years study

Background: Objectives to study the causes of maternal mortality and the complications leading to maternal death.Methods: A retrospective study of hospital records and death summaries of all maternal death over a period of 11 years from January 2008 to December 2018 was carried out at tertiary care hospital, Mumbai.Results: There were a total of 459 maternal death out of 36930 live birth giving maternal mortality rate mean maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 1242 per 100000 live births. Unregistered and late referral account for maternal death. The majority of women were in 21-30 years age group in 20 to less than 37 weeks of pregnancy. The commonest cause of death was due to hepatitis infection 129 (28.1%), sepsis 52 (11.32%), PIH including eclampsia 46 (10.02%), cardiovascular diseases 33 (7.18%), haemorrhage 31 (6.75%), Kochs 31 (6.75%) and respiratory diseases 22 (4.79%). Conclusions: Maternal mortality can be reduced by identifying causes which are preventable and giving timely treatment.
Prediction of Grain Yield in Henan Province Based on Grey BP Neural Network Model

BP neural network (BPNN) is widely used due to its good generalization and robustness, but the model has the defect that it cannot automatically optimize the input variables. In response to this problem, this study uses the grey relational analysis method to rank the importance of input variables, obtains the key variables and the best BPNN model structure through multiple training and learning for the BPNN models, and proposes a variable optimization selection algorithm combining grey relational analysis and BP neural network. The predicted values from the metabolic GM (1, 1) model for key variables was used as input to the best BPNN model for prediction modeling, and a grey BP neural network model prediction model (GR-BPNN) was proposed. The long short-term memory neural network (LSTM), convolutional neural network (CNN), traditional BP neural network (BP), GM (1, N) model, and stepwise regression (SR) are also implemented as benchmark models to prove the superiority and applicability of the new model. Finally, the GR-BPNN forecasting model was applied to the grain yield forecast of the whole province and subregions for Henan Province. The forecasting results found that the growth rate of grain production in Henan Province slowed down and the center of gravity for grain production shifted northwards.
Immigrants’ earnings and neighbourhood economic wealth: the conditioning role of citizenship

ABSTRACT Do higher earnings translate into better living conditions for immigrants? While spatial assimilation theory argues that residential patterns reflect economic assimilation, place stratification theory states that immigrants face structural obstacles in their search for better housing, including housing market discrimination. Existing scholarship does not facilitate distinguishing between these contrasting perspectives as analyses typically compare across immigrant groups and natives. By contrast, we focus in this paper on legal status discrimination within the immigrant population in the Netherlands, by testing whether citizenship acquisition provides a positive signal towards housing market actors and moderates the effect of income on residential mobility. We analyse this relation using administrative microdata and using fixed-effects models to control for selection into naturalisation due to unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity. We find that the relation between income gains and immigrants' propensity to live in wealthier neighbourhoods is stronger for naturalised immigrants. These results corroborate the place stratification argument and suggest that naturalisation may help reduce nationality based discrimination.
Sexual Function and Related Endocrinological and Psychological Aspects in Pregnancy: A Controlled Study

Introduction:Sexuality is an important part of women's physical & psychological health. Female sexual function is affected during pregnancy. Aim: we aimed to assess and compare sexual function & related endocrinological & psychological aspects in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Methods: A total of sexually active 40 women included two groups: 20 pregnant women and 20 non- pregnant women who served as controls. Sexual function (using Female Sexual Function Index), the psychological status (using Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale) and Serum total testosterone & estradiol levels were assessed. Results: The studied women’s age ranged from 19 to 35years. The mean of desire, arousal, orgasm, and total score domains in pregnant women (2.97±0.98, 3.00±0.82, 3.53±0.93, 21.77±3.89 respectively) were significantly lower when compared to non- pregnant women (p < 0.05). In pregnant women,the depression & stress axis showed significant negative correlations with desire, satisfaction, and total score domains (p < 0.05). Bothaxes showed also significant negative correlations with total testosterone in both pregnant & non-pregnant women(p < 0.05). There were negative correlations between satisfaction in pregnant women and each of female age, husbands’ age, duration of marriage and parity (r=-0.6 p=.00.5, r=-0.59 p=.006, r=-0.72 p=.001, r=-0.59, p=.005 respectively). Conclusions: Sexual function is affected in pregnant women more than non- pregnant women. Hormonal changes, depression and stress are interrelated factors along with other factors such as age, husband’s age and duration of marriage affect the sexual function in pregnant women. So, when evaluating pregnant women, sexual function along with all these factors should be considered and assessed.
Seasonal farm labor and COVID‐19 spread

Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020 caused unprecedented shocks to agricultural food systems, including increased risk to worker health, labor‐related input costs, and production uncertainty. Despite employer precautions, there were numerous worksite outbreaks of COVID‐19. This paper examines the relationship between month‐to‐month variation in historical agricultural employment and changes in the incidence of confirmed COVID‐19 cases and deaths within U.S. counties from April to August 2020. The results show that employment of 100 additional workers in fruit, vegetable, and horticultural production was associated with 4.5% more COVID‐19 cases within counties or an additional 18.65 COVID‐19 cases and 0.34 additional COVID‐19 deaths per 100,000 individuals in the county workforce.
Exploring the Need to Model Two- and Multiple-Vehicle Crashes Separately

Single-vehicle crashes have been shown to differ from two-plus vehicle crashes. Several studies have discussed the issues with modeling single-vehicle and two-plus vehicle crashes together. However, none of the empirical studies have attempted to study two-vehicle (2V) and multiple-vehicle (MV), that is, three-plus crash groups, to understand their correlation and influencing factors. This study first investigated whether there is a need to develop separate safety performance functions for 2V and MV crashes, in addition to single-vehicle crashes. Then, the correlation and influencing factors of 2V and MV were evaluated. Three regression models—a correlated bivariate negative binomial regression (BNR) model, an uncorrelated bivariate negative binomial regression (NR) model, and a univariate negative binomial regression (UNR) model, were developed and compared. The analysis was based on the 2011–2015 crashes that occurred on I-4 in Florida. Findings indicated that the BNR model significantly outperformed the NR and the UNR models. The model results suggest that disaggregating 2V and MV crashes while allowing correlation between the groups for the latent effects in the model best describes the data. Traffic volume, posted speed limit, and median type were found significant in contributing to the occurrence of both 2V and MV crashes. Additional contributing factors for 2V crashes included the presence of interchange influence area, and for MV crashes, the presence of a vertical curve and the presence of a horizontal curve. Study findings could assist transportation officials in implementing specific safety countermeasures for road segments identified as hotspots for 2V and MV crashes.
Endoparasites in group of wild animals raised in captivity

ABSTRACT: Free-living wild animals can host a wide variety of endoparasites. When subjected to conditions of captivity, these animals can go through stressful situations and develop parasites. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify parasitic infection in wild mammals, birds, and reptiles kept at the “Universidade de Caxias do Sul” Zoo, in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The population studied was based on 76 animals, divided into 50% (38/76) birds, 35.53% (27/76) mammals, and 14.47% (11/76) reptiles distributed in 33 different enclosures. Fecal samples were collected from the enclosures and analyzed in triplicate, using the centrifugal-flotation method with a zinc sulfate solution. Samples from the enclosures 31, 32, 33, (where snakes are located), and 15 (animal death), were not analyzed in triplicate, so the total number of analyses was 91 samples. The results showed that 41.76% (38/91) of the samples were positive for at least one class of endoparasites, such as Nematoda, Cestoda, or Coccidia. The positive samples showed the presence of at least one or more parasites from orders Strongylida (34.21%), Enoplida and Strongylida (23.68%), Enoplida only (23.68%), Cyclophyllidea and Oxyurida (5.26%), Ascaridida only (5.26%), Enoplida, Strongylida, and Ascaridida (5.26%), and Enoplida and Eucoccidiorida (2.63%). Considering the positive samples, 55.26% were collected from birds, 39.47% from mammals, and 5.27% from reptiles. Capillaria sp. eggs were the main structure found in birds, and eggs from the order Strongylida were the most found in samples from mammals. This study showed the order Strongylida as the most frequent parasite found in 63.16% of the total samples, established either in isolated or mixed infestations. Also, mammals and birds were those with a greater quantity of positive samples for endoparasites. Therefore, this study emphasizes the importance of carrying out research assessing the gastrointestinal parasitic fauna in wild animals, so one can determine the conditions under which these parasites become pathogenic to wild animals raised in captivity.
UHPLC-Orbitrap-HRMS Identification of 51 Oleraceins (Cyclo-Dopa Amides) in Portulaca oleracea L. Cluster Analysis and MS2 Filtering by Mass Difference

Oleraceins are a class of indoline amide glycosides found in Portulaca oleracea L. (Portulacaceae), or purslane. These compounds are characterized with 5,6-dihydroxyindoline-2-carboxylic acid N-acylated with cinnamic acid derivatives, and many are glucosylated. Herein, hydromethanolic extracts of the aerial parts of purslane were subjected to UHPLC-Orbitrap-HRMS analysis, conducted in negative ionization mode. Diagnostic ion filtering (DIF), followed by diagnostic difference filtering (DDF), were utilized to automatically filter out MS data and select plausible oleracein structures. After an in-depth MS2 analysis, a total of 51 oleracein compounds were tentatively identified. Of them, 26 had structure matching one of already known oleraceins and the other 25 are new, undescribed in the literature structures, belonging to the oleracein class. Moreover, diagnostic fragment ions were selected, based on which clustering algorithms and visualizations were employed. As we demonstrate, clustering methods can provide valuable insights into the mass fragmentation elucidation of natural compounds in complex mixtures.
Diversity, Distribution, and Habitat Occurrence of the Diaptomid Copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda: Diaptomidae) in Freshwater Ecosystems of Thailand

The diversity, distribution, and checklist of diaptomid copepods from various freshwater ecosystems throughout Thailand are presented, based on data from our biodiversity projects during 1993–2019 and literature reviews. Thailand has one of the most diversified diaptomid fauna in the world, with 42 species identified from 2150 localities (4962 samples). Mongolodiaptomus has the highest species richness with ten species, followed by Tropodiaptomus with seven species. Among these, eight taxa (Arctodiaptomus sp., Mongolodiaptomus pectinidactylus, Neodiaptomus meggitti, Tropodiaptomus hebereri, T. lanaonus, T. oryzanus, T. ruttneri, and Paradiaptomus greeni) are new to the fauna of Thailand. The rare P. greeni, which predominantly occurs in Africa, is also a new record for Southeast Asia. The most frequently encountered species were Mongolodiaptomus botulifer, Phyllodiaptomus praedictus, M. calcarus, M. dumonti, M. malaindosinensis, Vietodiaptomus blachei, Phyllodiaptomus christineae, Eodiaptomus sanoamuangae, Neodiaptomus yangtsekiangensis, E. draconisignivomi, T. vicinus, and Heliodiaptomus elegans. Twelve species appear to be endemic to Thailand, and eight species occur only in the countries belonging to the lower Mekong River Basin (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). The uniqueness of the Thai diaptomids is a high degree of co-occurrence of four to seven species in the same localities. Comments on the taxonomic status of the species recorded are provided. In addition, the taxonomic validity of Mongolodiaptomus malaindosinensis is discussed.
Structural Variations in the Genome of Potato Varieties of the Ural Selection

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the third most common plant crop in the world. Many studies, such as those using marker-assisted selection (MAS), are devoted to the genomic evaluation of potato. However, the nucleotide composition of some markers has not been described yet, and some regions of the genome remain unknown. Thus, the development of new marker systems for further genetic selection is required. Whole-genome sequencing and the search for structural variants (SVs) should further develop molecular genetic studies of the potato crop. In this paper, we will show the first results of our studies of the three backcrossed varieties Alaska, Argo, and Shah, which were selected for sequencing. Alaska is a patented variety with confirmed resistance to pathogens, while Argo and Shah are new perspective varieties. We sequenced genomes of these varieties using a nanopore platform. As a result, we identified more than 24,000 authentic structural variants with lengths varying from 4 bp to 100 Mbp. Deletion was found to be the most common type of structural variant in the genome and the genes. The majority of SVs are located in non-coding regions, including introns. However, a quarter of the genes of the sequenced varieties have some chromosomal mutations. Some genes responsible for resistance to abiotic stress and pathogens were duplicated, while genes of nucleic acid polymerization and few metabolic proteins were deleted.
Prosodic Accommodation in Face-to-Face and Telephone Dialogues

The study of phonetic accommodation in various communicative situations is still relatively limited. This paper examines accommodation in spontaneous conversations of eight pairs of Czech young male speakers in two communicative conditions: unconstrained face-to-face conversation and goal-oriented interaction via mobile telephone. Articulation rate and measures of f0 level, range and variability were measured in 40 prosodic phrases per speaker in each condition. Analyses of LME models did not reveal a significant global effect of time throughout the interaction on the distance between speakers (convergence) in any of the examined parameters, or that of preceding phrase value on the subsequent turn-initial value (synchrony). However, more consistent patterns were observed when speaker pairs were examined separately, revealing substantial individual variation on the one hand and non-linear effects on the other. This shows that aggregate analyses can be misleading in the study of phonetic accommodation and that speakers dynamically employ different strategies throughout natural conversations.
Varietal screening of Solanaceae accessions against R. solanacearum strains, agent of bacterial wilt in Côte d’Ivoire

Bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum is a constraint that limits the production of solanaceous in Cote d'Ivoire. The genetic control, which is more widely used, comes up against the genetic and phenotypic variability of the strains. The objective of this study was to screen commercial and traditional varieties of Solanaceae against Ivorian strains of different phylotypes to assess their spectrum of resistance to the disease. The level of virulence of the five strains of R. solanacearum was evaluated in semi-controlled conditions against eight varieties of Solanaceae (pepper, eggplant and tomato). Four groups of strains were identified according to the level of virulence. Group 4, composed of strains (RUN 1794 and RUN 1854) of phylotype III and I, respectively, and originating from the localities of Kondoukro and Yamoussoukro, was very virulent. The resistant varieties were for the F1 kalenda eggplant, for the yellow chilli from Burkina and for the F1 Lindo tomato. These varieties could be used in the fight against bacterial wilt in Cote d'Ivoire.
An Analysis of the Implementation of Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) Towards Customer Loyalty

The presence of customers is the most important component in a business. For this reason, customer loyalty to the company must be maintained and improved so that the business can survive and grow. This research is a quantitative study that aims to look at the relationship between electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) on the loyalty. Data in this study were collected through ECRM quality measurement questionnaires and customer loyalty levels. Then, the collected data is analyzed using simple linear regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that there is a positive and significant effect between the effectiveness of the ECRM on the level of customer loyalty from these results it can be recommended that to increase customer loyalty, it is important to improve the quality and effectiveness of ECRM.
Supervision and Evaluation of Inclusive Education

This research aims to monitor and evaluate inclusive education and consider strategies that the government can implement. Is it library research thinking was obtained from seven different international research article websites. Article search was prioritized for publications with a timeframe between 2013 and 2021. We got 13 qualitative reviews. The obstacles faced are the common knowledge of educators, inadequate infrastructure, minimal accessibility, and limited learning resources. The strategy carried out is the need for commitment from the authorities to supervise and evaluate inclusive education, which is supported by continuous support from the government during the implementation process in the field. The government's commitment to allocate funding resources and collaboration with other stakeholders is believed to realize education for all.
A Comparison of Blood Plasma Exosome Enrichment Strategies for Proteomic Analysis

Proteomic analysis of exosomes (EX) poses a significant challenge. A ‘gold-standard’ method for plasma EX enrichment for downstream proteomic analysis is yet to be established. Our group has performed a comprehensive study of multi-dimensional enrichment methods to determine their efficiency for protein isolation. Methods were evaluated for their capacity to a) successfully isolate and enrich EX from blood plasma, b) minimise the presence of highly abundant plasma proteins, and c) result in the optimum representation of EX proteins by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Blood plasma from four animals (Bos taurus) of similar physical attributes and genetics were used. Three methods of EX enrichment were utilised: ultracentrifugation (UC), size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and ultrafiltration (UF). These enrichment methods were combined to create four groups for methodological evaluation: UC+SEC, UC+SEC+UF, SEC+UC and SEC+UF. UC+SEC yielded the highest number of protein IDs. Plasma protein identification was the least in SEC+UC, but this method yielded the lowest number of protein IDs overall. UC+SEC+UF decreased EX protein ID and did not improve purity compared to UC+SEC. Our data suggest that the method and sequence of EX enrichment strategy impacts protein ID, which may influence the outcome of biomarker discovery studies.