Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Dynamic and Adaptive Marketing Capabilities on the Performance of Portuguese SMEs in the B2B International Market

The present investigation aims study the sustainability of the business model of the Portuguese SMEs operating in the B2B International market analyzing the influence of dynamic marketing capabilities and adaptive marketing capabilities in their international marketing performance. It will also analyze the moderating effects of Competitive Intensity within this international scenario. A quantitative study was developed, using a questionnaire as a research method. In total, 335 valid responses were collected from Portuguese SMEs in June 2020. To test the hypotheses, multiple hierarchical regressions were performed. As for the analyzes involving Competitive Intensity environments, namely low and high intensity, dummies were developed to evaluate the different effects produced by the capacities in the International Marketing Performance. This study shows the positive impact of the dynamic marketing capabilities and adaptive marketing capabilities on the international marketing performance of the surveyed companies, essentially from the product development management, supply chain management, vigilant market learning and open marketing. when in a low competitive intensity environment only dynamic marketing capabilities had a positive effect on performance, but in a high, competitive, intensity environment both dynamic marketing capabilities and adaptive marketing capabilities showed positive effects in relation to performance. This study innovates by bringing international marketing, through two marketing capacities, from the perspective of SMEs that perform B2B activities.
Detecting Framing Changes in Topical News

Changes in the framing of topical news are known to foreshadow significant public, legislative, and commercial events. Automated detection of framing changes is, therefore, an important problem, which existing research has not considered. Previous approaches are manual surveys that rely on human effort and are consequently limited in scope. This article systematizes the discovery of framing changes through a fully unsupervised computational method that seeks to isolate framing change trends over several years. We demonstrate our approach by isolating framing change periods that correlate with previously known framing changes. We have prepared a new data set, consisting of over 12 000 articles from seven news topics or domains, in which earlier surveys have found framing changes. Finally, our work highlights the predictive utility of framing change detection, by identifying two domains in which framing changes foreshadowed substantial legislative activity, or preceded judicial interest.
A Large‐Scale Analysis of Pockets of Open Cells and Their Radiative Impact

Pockets of open cells sometimes form within closed‐cell stratocumulus cloud decks but little is known about their statistical properties or prevalence. A convolutional neural network was used to detect occurrences of pockets of open cells (POCs). Trained on a small hand‐logged data set and applied to 13 years of satellite imagery the neural network is able to classify 8,491 POCs. This extensive database allows the first robust analysis of the spatial and temporal prevalence of these phenomena, as well as a detailed analysis of their micro‐physical properties. We find a large (30%) increase in cloud effective radius inside POCs as compared to their surroundings and similarly large (20%) decrease in cloud fraction. This also allows their global radiative effect to be determined. Using simple radiative approximations we find that the instantaneous global annual mean top‐of‐atmosphere perturbation by all POCs is only 0.01 W/m2.
Mutation pro le of non-small cell lung cancer revealed by next generation sequencing

Ya-Sian Chang China Medical University Hospital Siang-Jyun Tu China Medical University Hospital Yu-Chia Chen China Medical University Hospital Ting-Yuan Liu China Medical University Hospital Ya-Ting Lee China Medical University Hospital Ju-Chen Yen China Medical University Hospital Hsin-Yuan Fang China Medical University Hospital Jan-Gowth Chang (  d6781@mail.cmuh.org.tw ) China Medical University Hospital https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0375-1427
Beef carcass weight and quality grade influence tenderness

Warner-Bratzler shear force of Denver and eye of round steaks was toughest on day 5 with tenderness improving throughout aging. Strip steak WBSF was highest on day 5 in light weight carcasses compared to middle and heavy carcasses (P < 0.0001). By day 10, strip steaks were of similar tenderness (P > 0.05). Denver and eye of round steaks were not influenced by HCW (P > 0.05). In agreement with WBSF data from strip steaks, protein breakdown increased in middle and heavy carcasses on day 5. These data suggest strip steaks from light carcasses have reduced tenderness formation during early aging compared to middle and heavy carcasses.
An Analytic Model for Negative Obstacle Detection with Lidar and Numerical Validation Using Physics-Based Simulation

Negative obstacles have long been a challenging aspect of autonomous navigation for ground vehicles. However, as terrestrial lidar sensors have become lighter and less costly, they have increasingly been deployed on small, low-flying UAV, affording an opportunity to use these sensors to aid in autonomous navigation. In this work, we develop an analytical model for predicting the ability of UAV or UGV mounted lidar sensors to detect negative obstacles. This analytical model improves upon past work in this area because it takes the sensor rotation rate and vehicle speed into account, as well as being valid for both large and small view angles. This analytical model is used to predict the influence of velocity on detection range for a negative obstacle and determine a limiting speed when accounting for vehicle stopping distance. Finally, the analytical model is validated with a physics-based simulator in realistic terrain. The results indicate that the analytical model is valid for altitudes above 10 m and show that there are drastic improvements in negative obstacle detection when using a UAV-mounted lidar. It is shown that negative obstacle detection ranges for various UAV-mounted lidar are 60–110 m, depending on the speed of the UAV and the type of lidar used. In contrast, detection ranges for UGV mounted lidar are found to be less than 10 m.
Débats économiques et financiers

Plantin & Rochet (2016) document how insurers often engage in risk-shifting years before the materialization of a failure. This paper empirically examines this claim by testing the mechanisms of insurance insolvency, using a first-of-its-kind international database assembled by the authors which merges data on balance sheet and income statements together with information on impairments over the last 30 years in four big countries (France, Japan, the UK and the US). Employing different fixed effects logistic specifications and parametric survival models, the paper presents evidence of profitability as a leading indicator of failures, as well as the higher likelihood of failure by smaller firms. In addition, there is an intrinsic asymmetry between the life and non-life insurance sectors. In the life sector, asset mix is highly significant in predicting an impairment, while operating inefficiency plays no role. In the non-life sector, the opposite proves true.
Standardization of formulation for the preparation of ginger supplemented jelly candies

Ginger is a spice and medicinal plant gaining attention in the pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries as being an excellent source of several bioactive phenolics. In this study, the ginger supplemented jelly candies were prepared by supplementing different concentrations of ginger powder, oleoresin and juice to it. The standardized formulation of jelly candies containing 3 percent ginger powder, 0.1 percent ginger oleoresin and 25 percent ginger juice were found better than the control recipes based on sensory evaluation. Nutritionally, the ginger supplemented jelly candies contained total phenols in the range of 6.98 to 10.32±0.13 mg/100g, antioxidant activity 37.31 to 43.12±0.17 per cent with maximum antioxidant activity (43.12±0.17 percent) in juice supplemented jelly candies. This clearly emphasizes the importance of ginger supplementation in confectionery products thereby enhancing the functional properties of the products. The energy value in control sample was 322.62±0.27 kcal/g followed by 326.80±0.32 kcal/g in oleoresin, 332.45±0.35 kcal/g in powder and 336.83±0.24 kcal/g in juice supplemented jelly candies. No apparent growth of mould, yeast and bacteria was detected in ginger supplemented jelly candies, which showed that the products were safe for consumption. Thus, the commercial adoption of this technology seems to be a profitable venture for utilization of ginger thereby minimizing the postharvest losses and providing new products for the market.
Knowledge and Practice to Prevent Against Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) and Its Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women in Debre Tabor Town Northwest Ethiopia: a Community Based Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The current corona virus disease (COVID-19) is now become the global concerns and declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization on March 2020. To date, no antiviral treatment or vaccine has been explicitly recommended for COVID-19. So, applying preventive measures to control COVID-19 infection is the most critical intervention. Pregnant women are particularly susceptible to respiratory pathogens and severe pneumonia, because they are at immunosuppressive state and physiological adaptive change during pregnancy. As the same time the determinants of knowledge and practice to prevent COVID-19 among pregnant women, who constitute vulnerable groups, are yet to be evaluated. This study was therefore designed to assess knowledge and practice of preventive measures against corona virus disease and its associated factors among pregnant women in Debre Tabor Town. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 pregnant women from May 25-June 15, 2020. Simple random sampling technique was employed. Data was collected by face to face interview using structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out and p-value < 0.05 at 95% CI were considered as statistically significant. Result: A total of 422 participants were included with response rate of 95.9%. The mean age was 27.15 (SD± 4.719) years. About 46.8% and 47.6 % of women were knowledgeable and had good practice against corona virus respectively. The predictor for knowledge were age(15-24)( AOR=4.85, 95% CI: 1.34-5.42), educational status(AOR:3.70; 95% CI: 1.16-5.40) being civil servant (AOR:2.84; 95% CI: 1.55-5.21), wanted pregnancy(AOR:3.37; 95% CI: 1.20-9.45), antenatal care follow-up(AOR:2.07; 95% CI: 1.03-4.13), whereas educational status (AOR:3.78; 95% CI: 1.19-5.11), number of children (AOR:2.89; 95% CI: 1.29-6.45) and knowledge (AOR:8.42;95% CI: 4.50-15.85), were also the predictors for practice. Conclusion: This study showed that most of the participants had poor knowledge and inappropriate practice. As per finding increasing health education program via different medias, coordinated and combined efforts of authorities and all individuals will be needed to battles the spread of the pandemic.
Breeding mineral rich high yielding genotypes in monoecious ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb.) utilizing hermaphrodite inbreds

The present experiment was carried out at IARI, Pusa, New Delhi during 2007-09 to evaluate the combining ability of hermaphrodite lines in combination with monoecious inbreds for the mineral content and yield potential in ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb.). Twenty-one half-diallel derived crosses along with their seven parents were sown in randomized block design with three replications. A large amount of genetic variation was found for fruit yield & mineral content (phosphorus, calcium, potassium, sodium, sulfur, iron, zinc and manganese) in parents, hybrids and parents vs. hybrids; and general combining ability and specific combining ability. Hermaphrodite parents (Satputia Long and Satputia Small) and “monoecious × hermaphrodite” crosses were found to be superior for mineral content along with yield potential in terms of per se performance and combining ability. The crosses possessing higher per se performance, significant desirable specific combining ability estimates, and involving hermaphrodite line as one of the parents would be helpful for accumulating favorable alleles to enhance the mineral content along with productivity in ridge gourd.
The effect of combinations of iron-bearing minerals and quartz on coke reactivity

The effect of combinations of iron-bearing minerals and quartz on the reactivity of coke analogues with CO2 was examined in a TGA. Troilite–quartz, pyrite–quartz and magnetite–troilite binary combinations and the troilite–magnetite–quartz ternary combination were examined. For the troilite–quartz and pyrite–quartz binary combinations the reactivity in general decreased non linearly with increasing Si:Fe ratio. The magnetite–troilite combination had a non-linear effect on the reactivity in that mixes of these two minerals show a higher reactivity than would be expected from a simple proportional mixing approach. Some evidence of sulphur transfer from the troilite to the magnetite was observed. The reactivity of the ternary magnetite–troilite–quartz combination can largely be understood from the trends in the axes. These were largely followed across all compositions, allowing better understanding and prediction of the effect of these minerals on the reactivity of industrial cokes.
Prevalence of Ariophantid and Helicarionid gastropod mollusks in pastures for sheep at Mannavanur, Palani hill ranges, Tamil Nadu, India

Southern Regional Research Centre (SRRC), a regional centre of ICARCentral Sheep and Wool Research Institute (ICAR-CSWRI), at Mannavanur, Tamil Nadu, maintains synthetic breeds of Sheep (Bharat Merino and Avikalin) and broiler rabbits (major breedsWhite Giant and Soviet Chinchilla). Sheep are accompanied by graziers into the pasture area nearby reserve forest and they noticed some snails and slugs are crawling in the pasture area of sheep. These specimens were collected by graziers during September 2018 and July 2020 from the pasture area. Three species of gastropods were identified as Mariaella beddomei, Pseudaustenia atra and Ariophanta basileus. Effect of the usage on the ideal control methods of these molluscan species, restriction of sheep grazing in the pasture area during the rainy seasons, vector potential of these molluscan species in the spread of Dicrocoeliosis and lung worm infections among sheep and Periodical deworming of both sheep & rabbits using the suitable anthemintics were dealt.
TDprop: Does Adaptive Optimization With Jacobi Preconditioning Help Temporal Difference Learning?

We investigate whether Jacobi preconditioning, accounting for the bootstrap term in temporal difference (TD) learning, can help boost performance of adaptive optimizers. Our method, TDprop, computes a per-parameter learning rate based on the diagonal preconditioning of the TD update rule. We show how this can be used in both n -step returns and TD( λ ). Our theoretical findings demonstrate that including this additional preconditioning information is comparable to normal semi-gradient TD if the optimal learning rate is found for both via a hyperparameter search. This matches our experimental results. In Deep RL experiments using Expected SARSA, TDprop meets or exceeds the performance of Adam in all tested games under near-optimal learning rates, but a well-tuned SGD can yield similar performance in most settings. Our findings suggest that Jacobi preconditioning may improve upon Adam in Deep RL, but despite incorporating additional information from the TD bootstrap term, may not always be better than SGD. More-over, they suggest that more theoretical investigations are needed to understand adaptive optimizers under optimal hyperparameter regimes in TD learning: simpler methods may, surprisingly, be theoretically comparable after a hyperparameter search.
Men’s reproductive coercion of women. Prevalence, experiences, and coping strategies. A mixed method study in urban health facilities in León, Nicaragua

BackgroundReproductive coercion (RC) is quite a common form of violence against women. However, it mostly goes unrecognized by victims. It can take several expressions aiming at limiting a woman’s reproductive autonomy. Thus, the frequency and how reproductive coercion can be resisted must be investigated. There is limited research regarding RC in Latin America. Therefore, this study aimed to measure RC prevalence and associated factors and to explore the women experiences and coping strategies for RC.MethodsA convergent mixed-methods approach with parallel sampling was conducted in western Nicaragua. A quantitative phase was applied with 390 women 18–35 years old attending three main urban primary health care facilities. Lifetime and 12 months of exposure to RC behaviors including pregnancy promotion (PP) and contraceptive sabotage (CS) were assessed. Poisson regression with a robust variance estimator was used to obtain adjusted prevalence rate ratios and 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs). In addition, seven in-depth interviews were analyzed using content analysis.ResultsEver RC prevalence was 17.4% (95% CI, 13.8–21.6) with similar proportions reporting ever experiencing PP (12.6%, 95% CI 9.4–16.3) or ever experiencing CS (11.8%, 95% CI 8.7–15.4). The prevalence of last twelve months RC was slightly lower (12.3%, 95% CI, 9.2–16.0) than above. Twelve months PP (7.4%, 95% CI 5.0-10.5) and CS (8.7%, 95% CI 6.1–12.0) were also similar. Women considered that control is an expression of care. Women’s higher education was a protective factor against ever and 12 months of exposure to any RC behaviors by a current or former partner. Informants described a broad spectrum of coping strategies during and after exposure to RC. However, these rarely succeeded in preventing unintended pregnancies or regain women’s long-term fertility autonomy.ConclusionsIn Nicaragua, men’s RC is a pervasive continuous phenomenon that can be enacted through explicit or subtle behaviors. Women used different strategies to cope with RC but rarely succeeded in preventing unintended pregnancies or regain their long-term fertility autonomy. Thus, these findings highlight the need for a comprehensive health system response on different expressions of RC. There are important implications for improving female reproductive agency in Nicaragua and elsewhere.
EarthArXiv preprint (Under Review in Remote Sensing of Environment) 1 Urban Heat Island Calculations for Decision Making in the United States: Characterization and Implications

The urban heat island (UHI) effect is strongly modulated by urban-scale changes to the aerodynamic, thermal, and radiative properties of the Earth’s land surfaces, and, among other things, exacerbates heat stress. With the majority (~80%) of the US population currently living in urban areas, urban heat stress is a threat to public health one that will be aggravated by continuing urbanization, rural to urban migration, and climate change. While there have been hundreds of studies on the UHI, mostly done on a city-by-city basis, we do not have a complete picture at the national US scale using a consistent methodology, particularly regarding intra-city UHI variability. This within-city variability, caused by the spatial heterogeneity of urban areas may lead to higher heat exposure for certain vulnerable groups and is important for policy making and urban planning purposes. To address this gap, we characterize surface UHI intensities over the US using a modified Simplified Urban-Extent (SUE) approach by combining multiple US census-defined administrative urban delineations with a fusion of satellite products. We find the highest daytime UHI intensities during summer (mean value = 1.91 ± 0.97 °C) for 418 of 497 urbanized areas in the US, while the wintertime daytime UHI intensity (mean value = 0.87 ± 0.45 °C) is the lowest in 439 cases. Since urban vegetation has been frequently cited as an effective way to mitigate UHI, we use NDVI, a satellite-derived proxy for live green vegetation, and US census tract delineations to demonstrate that vegetation density strongly modulates inter-city, intra-city, and inter-seasonal variation in the UHI intensity. We use the census tract-based aggregation to demonstrate an application of this dataset, showing that for the majority of the urbanized areas, the UHI intensity is lower in census tracts with higher median income and higher proportion of white people. Moreover, poor and non-white urban residents seem to be suffering the adverse effects of summertime UHI without reaping the potential benefits during winter. We expect that this spatially explicit dataset, which can be explored here: https://datadrivenlab.users. earthengine.app/view/usuhiapp, can be directly implemented for policy making and urban planning, enabling the design of better mitigation strategies to ameliorate both the total UHI and disparities in its distribution.
Influence of supramolecular encapsulation of camptothecin by cucurbit[7]uril: reduced toxicity and preserved anti-cancer activity

Camptothecin (CPT), a natural antineoplastic agent that was originally isolated from the bark and stem of Camptotheca acuminata, targets a wide range of cancers by inhibition of topoisomerase I during DNA replication. In this study, we investigated the use of cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) for molecular encapsulation of CPT and the associated benefits of such encapsulation of CPT on its anti-cancer activity, and side effects have been systemically evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The cytotoxicity of the free CPT and complexed CPT (CPT@CB[7]) was examined by MTT assay using both a healthy liver cell line (L02) and a liver cancer cell line (Bel-7402). Interestingly, both the free CPT and CPT@CB[7] demonstrated comparable anti-cancer efficacy in vitro on the cancer cell line Bel-7402, whereas CPT@CB[7] showed obviously lower toxicity on the healthy liver cell line L02, in comparison with the free CPT. The anti-cancer/anti-angiogenic activity and non-specific toxicity of both free CPT and CPT@CB[7] were further investigated in vivo with both transgenic and wild-type zebrafish models, showing again that CPT@CB[7] exhibited reduced non-specific toxicities with well-preserved anti-angiogenic activities, when compared with the free CPT. These results demonstrate that CB[7] may work as a functional excipient for alleviation of undesired side-effects of selected organic drugs.
Selling to a Group

A group of agents can collectively purchase a public good that yields heterogeneous benefits to its members. Combining a reduced-form implementation result with a duality argument, we characterize the seller's profit-maximizing mechanism. Trade outcomes depend solely on a weighted average of the agents' virtual values, with endogenous voting weights. Heterogeneity in voting weights reflects heterogeneity in agents' value distributions, where agents with lower value distributions are given more weight in trade decisions. Simple pricing rules are generally not (even approximately) optimal.