Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interventions with Positive Side-Effects: Covid-19 Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions and Infectious Diseases in Europe

To assess the efficacy of Covid-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on infectious disease containment in Europe, we first use weekly 2015-20 data on the spread of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to compare the 2019-20 season of these diseases with the previous five. Although the magnitude of results differs between countries, we document much stronger end-of-season declines in infections in the most recent outbreak than in the earlier ones, implying that they may be driven by NPIs implemented in 2020 to combat Covid-19. To test this conjecture, we use detailed country-specific weekly information on Covid-19 NPIs to estimate several panel models that relate NPI implementation to disease incidence across countries. Not only do certain measures significantly reduce the spread of Covid-19, they also curtail the spread of influenza and RSV. Nonetheless, although we identify workplace closures as a particularly effective measure, we find no evidence for the efficacy of other NPIs such as travel restrictions.
Phosphorus Availability as Influenced by Organic Residues in Five Calcareous Soils

The use of organic residue is appropriate in maintaining long-term phosphorus (P) requirement of crops. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of time and organic residue addition on P availability in some calcareous soils. Five plant residues and two manures in a wide range of C/N ratios were added to the soil samples at rates of 20 g kg−1 soil. The samples were incubated for 2, 72, 336, 672, 1440, and 2160 hours at constant temperature and moisture. Extractable phosphorus (Olsen-P) was determined after the incubation. There were decreases in the Olsen-P in all five amended soils during 2160 hours of incubation. The power model was found to be suitable to describe P transformation rates from amended soils. The constant b in the power model of P for amended soils was defined as transformation rate were in the order (average of five soils) vegetables waste > sheep manure > potato > poultry manure > sunflower > rape > weeds residues. There were significant correlations between C/P in residues and parameters a and parameter b. There were significant correlations between clay content and calcium carbonate and transformation rate of P in soils. The model parameters of P are suitable to estimate the P-fertilizer effect of organic residues.
Learning-By-Losing: Do Political Parties Widen Representation to Win Elections?∗

Although the right to vote has long been near-universal in many countries, there are still significant inequalities in political representation. One contributing factor may be political parties selecting candidates to try and win elections. I argue that parties may learn to be more inclusive in their selection in the aftermath of a defeat, through a ‘learning-by-losing’ process. The case study of the Conservative Party after the shock landslide defeat in the UK 1906 election provide a unique setting to identify the response of parties to electoral defeat through their selection of candidates. Using comprehensive hand-collected biographical data and machine-learning algorithms to classify over 2000 candidates, I find evidence of the Conservatives choosing candidates from a wider range of backgrounds in response to electoral defeat, and evidence of the targeted use of candidates to win votes. These results may have implications for labour market inequalities in other occupations, as well as for policy decisions.
Production of Pre Ripened Provolone Cheese and Quality Characterization Using Blends of Whole Milk

Cheese is a product made from the curd obtained from milk by coagulating the casein with the help of rennet in the presence of lactic acid produced by added starter culture. The study was aimed to evaluate the yield and quality of pre ripened provolone cheese prepared from different blends of cow, doe, ewe and camel whole milk. The sources of milk were from Hawassa town, Langano and Kofele areas of Oromiya region. Pre ripened provolone cheeses were made from blends contained ratio between 60-80%, 10-30%, 10-30% and 0-20% for cow, doe, ewe and camel milk, respectively using standard procedure. The whole milk and its pre ripened provolone cheeses were subjected to physicochemical analyses. The physicochemical analyses, selected minerals, bioactive compounds, microbial quality and consumer acceptability of the pre ripened provolone cheese were analyzed. The blending proportion of different milk had significant (P<0.05) effect on the physiochemical property, mineral, bioactive and sensory quality of pre ripened provolone cheese. The physiochemical property of whole milk for manufacture of pre ripened provolone cheeses were in the range between 10.56 to 15.08% for total solids, 3.45 to 5.20% for fat and 3 to 4.19% for crude protein. The chemical composition of pre ripened provolone cheese prepared from different blended milk ranged from 47.32- 67.05% for total solids, 24.26 – 36.81% for fat, 17.78 – 26.30% for crude protein, 1.09 – 3.49% for total ash, and 0.75 – 2.98% for lactose; ascorbic acid (0.49 to 3.08 mg/kg) and total polyphenols (1.00 to 17.50 (mg GAE/g). The fat, protein and total solids recovery of pre ripened provolone cheeses ranged from 64.87% to 95.39%, 54.58% to 84.67% and 41.35% to 59.92% respectively. The yield of pre ripened provolone cheese ranged from 9.22% to 13.47%. Total bacteria count was found to be the predominant micro flora of pre ripened provolone cheeses and reached 5.24 cfu/g in the control cheese. The entire consumer acceptability of the pre ripened provolone cheese was in acceptable range. In conclusion, the pre ripened provolone cheese prepared from T12 (60% cow, 10% doe and 30% ewe) milk gave better cheese yield and had auspicious results in nutritional qualities comparable with that of control cheese and other cheese samples. Keywords: Blends of whole milk, cheese yield, pre-ripened provolone cheese, quality characterization DOI: 10.7176/ALST/82-01 Publication date: October 31 st 2020
EFFECTS OF THYMOL SUPPLEMENTATION AGAINST TYPE 2 DIABETES IN STREPTOZOTOCIN-INDUCED RAT MODEL

The present investigation was aimed to study the effect of thymol, an active compound of Nigella sativa, on streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats. Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (i) Normal control, (ii) Diabetic control, (iii) Diabetic treated with insulin (iv) Diabetic treated with thymol and (v) Normal rats treated with thymol. The rats were injected with STZ at a dose of 55 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally to induce diabetes. Thymol was given orally at a dose of 40mg/kg body weight for 28 days. At the end of the study, the rats were sacrificed and blood samples were drawn by cardiac puncture to determine the levels of Blood glucose, Plasma Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Total Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), High-density lipoprotein (HDL), Urea, Creatinine, Serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) content, Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), Sialic acid (SA). Markers of antioxidants as Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and erythrocyte Reduced Glutathione (GSH) were also measured. Radical scavenging activity in terms of percent 2, 2diphenyl -1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Blood glucose level, Total Cholesterol, Triglycerides, LDL, Urea, Creatinine, SGOT, SGPT, ALP, MDA, AOPP, SA levels which were found elevated due to diabetes reduced significantly to near normal. However, HDL level, % DPPH, FRAP content and erythrocyte GSH levels elevated after supplementation. We observe that administration of thymol afforded remarkable protection against diabetes and its related complications.
ZINC-METHIONINE AND IT ́S EFFECT ON CHICKEN MEAT QUALITY

Background and Objective: The supplementation in diet of chicken improves the amino acid balance and consequently increases protein synthesis and decreases fat synthesis. And the positive effects on meat quality. Essential elements are very necessary for the physiological functions of the human body and should be available through dietary intake, which supports regulation of cellular function, growth and maintenance of the body. The study provides original analytical data on the levels of zinc and methionine (ZeMet) in chicken meat (female) which are commonly consumed in Iraq. A total of three hundred and sixty (n = 360) of broiler chicks were weighed and classified in 3 groups, 0% ZnMet (Control T1), 0.5 gm/kg ZnMet (T2), 1 gm/kg ZnMet (T3). C arcass cuts (Breast, Whole Thigh, Wings, Back and Neck), Physical dissection (Lean, bone and skin), chemical analysis (moisture, protein, fat and ash), Cooking Loss, Drip Loss, TBA, PV and sensory evaluation (tenderness, juiciness, flavor, overall acceptance, acceptability, texture and general appearance) were steady. There were no significant differences between treatment in Carcass cuts (Breast, Back and Neck), Physical dissection (Lean, bone and skin), chemical analysis (moisture, protein, fat and ash), Cooking Loss, Drip Loss, TBA, PV. While there were a significant difference (P > 0.05) in Whole Thigh, Wings and sensory evaluation. The supplementation zinc and methionine (ZeMet) in diet of chicken improves the sensory evaluation of meat.
Strain improvement of an endophytic fungal spp. for biodiesel production

The Aspergillus niger JGK – 12 was subjected to mutation through physical and chemical methods (UV and EMS), and after treatment, the putative survived cultures were subjected to quantitative production of biomass and total lipid yield. Compared to control culture of Aspergillus niger JGK-12, UV treated mutant showed little enhancement in dry biomass content and total lipid production, whereas the EMS treated culture did not produce high biomass and lipid contents. The isolated lipids were then subjected to purification in which case, neutral lipids were found to be the major components accounting up to 85% of the total lipids, which infers that Aspergillus niger JGK – 12 could be a good microbial source for biodiesel production. The fractionated lipids were subjected to alkaline transesterification to produce biodiesel, which are mainly composed of fatty acid methyl esters and the compositions were found to be similar to that of regular biodiesel from plant origin. The biodiesel were further analyzed by GC-MS, HPTLC, 1H NMR, C13 NMR and FTIR techniques to confirm their purity and quality. Hence, with all the research findings, it can be concluded that Aspergillus niger JGK – 12 can be treated as a promising feedstock for biodiesel production in the future.
Valuing Statistical Life Using Seniors’ Medical Spending*

This study provides the first revealed preference evidence on the value of statistical life (VSL) for US seniors aged 67–97 from the rates at which they choose to consume medical care relative to other private goods, and by the effects of their choices on their survival probabilities. These effects are estimated from individuals’ survey responses linked with their Medicare records. Instrumental variables estimators provide robust evidence that the mean VSL is below $1 million and that it decreases with age, and, given age, increases with income, education, and health and is higher for women and people who never smoked. JEL classification: D90, J14, J17, Q51
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OXIDATIVE STABILITY AND ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF GOAT CREAM BISCUITS SUPPLEMENTED WITH NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT

Fat composition in goat milk is one of the most important components of the nutritional and technological of goat milk. The antioxidant effect of pomegranate peel extract (PPE) was investigated in fat in goat milk (goat cream), as well as their use in the manufacture of biscuits with supplemented ratios 0.5, 1 and 2%. Antioxidant properties such as radical scavenging activity, total phenolic content and total flavonoid content of goat cream and biscuits samples were determined. Supplemented lipid fraction of biscuit formula with PPE was improving the oxidation stability of biscuits samples. The correlation coefficient (R) values range from -0.786 to -0.992, significant negative correlations between oxidative stability and antioxidant properties of goat cream biscuits might generally be considered a result of the antioxidant effects of PPE supplemented as natural antioxidant.
EFFECT OF TWO HARROWING SYSTEMS ON DECOMPOSITION OF ORGANIC MATTER, SOME SOIL PROPERTIES, GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L.)

A field experiment was conducted at Abu-Ghrib during 20132014 season to study the effect of harrowing systems on the decomposition and fermentation on organic matter (OM) when added and mixed with the soil under special technology, as well as its effect on the growth parameters and productivity of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L). The experiment was laid out using factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in SCL bare soil with a percent of moisture ranged from 16–18 %. The main plots were designated to the two systems of harrowing (Rotary Harrow and Disc Harrow). The sub main plots were specified for two organic matters (Sheep manure, cow manure). Data were statistically analyzed, and LSD was used to compare means at 0.05 levels. After 90 days, the obtained results indicated that there were significant effects of harrowing systems on the rate of decomposition of organic matter and their effects on some soil and plant properties. The rotary harrows system showed significant low in bulk density, and decrease in total porosity, average of mean weight diameter (MWD), total nitrogen, and height of plant. Under constant level of OM cow manure showed superiority on sheep manure and gave a significant increase in added nutrients, rate of decomposition of OM, improving soil properties and in turn on growth and productivity of Sunflower. Also the data show there are different level with the different of the source of organic matter .
Using a Stochastic Agent Model to Optimize Performance in Divergent Interest Tacit Coordination Games

In recent years collaborative robots have become major market drivers in industry 5.0, which aims to incorporate them alongside humans in a wide array of settings ranging from welding to rehabilitation. Improving human–machine collaboration entails using computational algorithms that will save processing as well as communication cost. In this study we have constructed an agent that can choose when to cooperate using an optimal strategy. The agent was designed to operate in the context of divergent interest tacit coordination games in which communication between the players is not possible and the payoff is not symmetric. The agent’s model was based on a behavioral model that can predict the probability of a player converging on prominent solutions with salient features (e.g., focal points) based on the player’s Social Value Orientation (SVO) and the specific game features. The SVO theory pertains to the preferences of decision makers when allocating joint resources between themselves and another player in the context of behavioral game theory. The agent selected stochastically between one of two possible policies, a greedy or a cooperative policy, based on the probability of a player to converge on a focal point. The distribution of the number of points obtained by the autonomous agent incorporating the SVO in the model was better than the results obtained by the human players who played against each other (i.e., the distribution associated with the agent had a higher mean value). Moreover, the distribution of points gained by the agent was better than any of the separate strategies the agent could choose from, namely, always choosing a greedy or a focal point solution. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to construct an intelligent agent that maximizes its utility by incorporating the belief system of the player in the context of tacit bargaining. This reward-maximizing strategy selection process based on the SVO can also be potentially applied in other human–machine contexts, including multiagent systems.
Eco-oriented culture and financial performance: roles of innovation strategy and eco-oriented continuous improvement in manufacturing state-owned enterprises, Indonesia

This study focuses on investigating the mediating effect of innovation strategy and eco-oriented continuous improvement on the relationship between eco-oriented culture and corporate financial performance. This study provides empirical evidence to the resource-based theory stating that a corporate needs to have valuable, rare, inimmitable, and nonsubstitutable resources to remain competitive. Organization culture, innovation and continuous improvement capabilities are considered as the critical resources that must be developed by a corporate to gain competitive advantage. This study is designed as quantitative research using a variance-based or the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Study on 103 managers of the manufacturing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Indonesia reveals that innovation strategy and eco-oriented continuous improvement partially mediate the relationship between EOC and corporate financial performance. This study contribute to provide greater understanding regarding the need to consider eco-orientation within a corporate life. It implies that for boosting the corporate financial performance, a corporate needs to adapt the eco-orientation and understand the mechanism on how eco-oriented culture affects corporate financial performance using innovation strategy and continuous improvements in eco-oriented operation management processes, customer management processes, innovation management processes, as well as regulatory and social processes. A strong eco-oriented culture will lead to beneficial innovations and eco-oriented continuous improvement; hence it has a positive association to financial performance. Many studies have been conducted on how a culture affects financial performance. However, there are still few studies describing the mechanism of how a culture can improve financial performance using innovation strategy and eco-oriented continuous improvement, especially in the context of environmental issues and in a developing country. Focusing on explaining the mediating effect, this study employs a more comprehensive structural model integrating four eco-oriented variables.
Culpable Causation

"Culpable causation" refers to the influence of the perceived blameworthiness of an action on judgments of its causal impact on a harmful outcome. Four studies were conducted to show that when multiple forces contribute to an unfortunate outcome, people select the most blameworthy act as the prepotent causal factor. In Study 1, an actor was cited more frequently as the primary cause of an accident when his reason for speeding was to hide a vial of cocaine than when it was to hide his parents' anniversary gift. In Study 2, of the 4 acts that produced an unfortunate outcome, the most blameworthy act was cited as the factor with the greatest causal impact. Study 3 found that greater causal influence was perceived throughout a causal chain when the act that engaged the chain was positive rather than negative. Finally, Study 4 found that both traditional causal factors (i.e., necessity and sufficiency) and culpable factors influenced perceived causation.
Geostatistical modeling of surface water balance (SWB) under variable soil moisture conditions in the Pao river basin, Venezuela•

The aim of this paper is to develop a geostatistical model for the surface water balance (SWB) under variable soil moisture conditions of the Pao river basin, Venezuela. The novelty of the research consists in identifying a statistical model that will predict the spatial variability of hydro-meteorological data in the basin. A series of meteorological data from 25 stations for the period 2015-2017 were used in connection with the ordinary kriging technique. Infiltration values were analyzed considering three different soil moisture conditions: dry, normal and wet. To represent the semi variances of the SWB variables, the function J-Bessel was used. An adequate mathematical adjustment between observed and predicted values of SWB variables has been found expressed by the correlation coefficient (R) as followes: for precipitation, 0.54-0.81; for infiltration, 0.68-0.95; for runoff, 0.68-0.92: for evapotranspiration, 0.53-0.86; and for the accumulative volume, 0.53-0.95.
Asymmetric Responses of Oil Price Shocks on Economic Growth in Algeria: An Empirical Analysis through NARDL Approach

This empirical study examines the asymmetric effects of oil price shocks on economic growth in Algeria. The dynamic models of Non-linear Autoregressive Distribution Lags (NARDL) are used to analyze this relationship throughout 1970-2018. The results of this study reveal that there is a non-linear connection among the variables in the long run. As the empirical results of the NARDL model estimation shows that the response of real GDP to positive oil shocks is greater than the negative shocks. It is also evident that positive shocks have a low effect on economic growth in Algeria. In the short term, the results show that the effect of oil shocks on economic growth is symmetric and very weak. While the results showed that government revenue has a greater impact on economic growth than capital expenditure. This reflects the urgent need to diversify sources of income to ensure its sustainability as a first stage before focusing on the government spending aspect.
From Rindler fluid to dark fluid on the holographic cutoff surface

As an approximation to the near horizon regime of black holes, the Rindler fluid was proposed on an accelerating cutoff surface in the flat spacetime. The concept of the Rindler fluid was then generalized into a flat bulk with the cutoff surface of the induced de Sitter and FRW universe, such that an effective description of dark fluid in the accelerating universe can be investigated.
Generating Weighted MAX-2-SAT Instances with Frustrated Loops: an RBM Case Study

Many optimization problems can be cast into the maximum satisfiability (MAX-SAT) form, and many solvers have been developed for tackling such problems. To evaluate a MAXSAT solver, it is convenient to generate hard MAX-SAT instances with known solutions. Here, we propose a method of generating weighted MAX-2-SAT instances inspired by the frustrated-loop algorithm used by the quantum annealing community. We extend the algorithm for instances of general bipartite couplings, with the associated optimization problem being the minimization of the restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM) energy over the nodal values, which is useful for effectively pre-training the RBM. The hardness of the generated instances can be tuned through a central parameter known as the frustration index. Two versions of the algorithm are presented: the randomand structured-loop algorithms. For the random-loop algorithm, we provide a thorough theoretical and empirical analysis on its mathematical properties from the perspective of frustration, and observe empirically a double phase transition behavior in the hardness scaling behavior driven by the frustration index. For the structured-loop algorithm, we show that it offers an improvement in hardness over the random-loop algorithm in the regime of high loop density, with the variation of hardness tunable through the concentration of frustrated weights.