Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactions between investments in innovation and SME competitiveness in the peripheral regions

Since 2000 (The Lisbon Strategy), the discussion about the possible interactions between investments in innovation and competitiveness has become increasingly essential. Enterprises differ substantially with regard to their innovation activities, competitiveness and performance: size, sector, type of investment together determine their innovation activities. The main aim of this study is to analyze the roles of investments in innovation and how investments influence SME competitiveness in a peripheral region in Poland. The author investigates the effects of innovation activities among small and medium but also micro firms. The research was based on the data drawn from CATIs carried out among 808 firms (410 innovative and 398 non-innovative ones). To determine statistically significant differences between the variables of innovative and noninnovative companies, the logistic regression method was implemented. The research results show that among SMEs in the peripheral regions, not every type of investment affects competitiveness. The greatest dependence is demonstrated by the expenditures on machinery and equipment, on marketing activities, on intellectual property protection, and on training. The study also shows the existence of negative factors, the increase in which leads to a reduction in competitiveness level. Moreover, an innovative company which invests in innovation increases the chance of improving competitiveness more than a noninnovative company which invests in innovation.
Bacillus-Based Probiotic Treatment Modified Bacteriobiome Diversity in Duck Feces

The intestinal health of poultry is of great importance for birds’ growth and development; probiotics-driven shifts in gut microbiome can exert considerable indirect effect on birds’ welfare and production performance. The information about gut microbiota of ducks is scarce; by using high throughput metagenomic sequencing with Illumina Miseq we examined fecal bacterial diversity of Peking ducks grown on conventional and Bacillus-probiotic-enriched feed. The probiotic supplementation drastically decreased the presence of the opportunistic pathogen Escherichia/Shigella, which was the major and sole common dominant in all samples. Seventy other bacterial species in the ducks’ fecal assemblages were found to have probiotic-related differences, which were interpreted as beneficial for ducks’ health as was confirmed by the increased production performance of the probiotic-fed ducks. Bacterial α-biodiversity indices increased in the probiotic-fed group. The presented inventory of the duck fecal bacteriobiome can be very useful for the global meta-analysis of similar data in order to gain a better insight into bacterial functioning and interactions with other gut microbiota to improve poultry health, welfare and production performance.
Analisa Makro Ekonomi pada Perusahaan Pelayaran di Indonesia

Each country must pay attention to the money market or capital market to take advantage of internationalization opportunities and trade between countries in the Asian region, especially in the maritime sector . The success of the capital market in a country, especially in the maritime industry sector, is influenced by external circumstances such as macroeconomic and internal factors such as its performance. This study aims to determine the effect of macroeconomic factors on the abnormal return of shipping companies in Indonesia. Data analysis methods used to test hypotheses in research are using Multiple Linear Regression Analysis and Path Analysis. The determination of the sample in this study used a purposive sampling method. The result showed that ROE could not partially be an intervening variable between macroeconomics and abnormal return.
Countering Democratic Backsliding by EU Member States: Constitutional Pluralism and ‘Value’ Differentiated Integration

Constitutional pluralism (CP) and differentiated integration (DI) have been criticised as potentially legitimising democratic backsliding within the EU. Critics contend that effective measures require strengthening the legal authority of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the political authority of the European Commission. We dispute this criticism, which rests on a federal conception of the EU at odds with its confederal features. We argue the value of democracy for the EU derives from pluralism between as well as within states, thereby justifying CP and DI. While both prove incompatible with democratic backsliding, they challenge the legitimacy of the strong assertions of federal authority some advocate to tackle it. Drawing on CP, we propose four criteria for EU action against backsliding regimes, and suggest processes and penalties that meet them. We liken the latter to ‘value’ DI, whereby backsliding states can be excluded from EU funding and voting rights.
Subject independent evaluation of eyebrows as a stand-alone biometric

EyeVerify, Inc. (dba ZOLOZ) Abstract Considering challenges such as occlusions due to face coverings, ocular biometrics have risen as a potential remedy. Visible light ocular modalities use features extracted from in and around the eyes from ‘selfie’ captures for personal identification. A less‐visited ocular neighbourhood is the eyebrows region. Previous works on eyebrows have been mostly using subject‐specific verification protocols where identities overlap between the training and test sets and do not directly address the issue of doppelgangers and twins. Here, the evaluation of five deep learning models, lightCNN, ResNet, DenseNet, MobileNetV2, and SqueezeNet, for eyebrow‐based user authentication in a subject independent environment across different data sets, lighting conditions, resolutions, and facial expressions is done. Also a challenging simulated identical twins scenario in our training and testing data sets is presented. Our results show a 4.2% equal error rate (EER) and 0.993 area under the curve (AUC) on a subset of the FACES data set (154 subjects) and 6.8% EER, 0.978 AUC on a subset of the VISOB data set (350 subjects). Despite achieving promising accuracy during short‐term evaluations, the proposed methods showed lower accuracy when matching against long‐term data or when facing data captured under varying illumination and facial expressions.
Salbutamol Residue in Plasma and Urine of Balinese Calves after Single-Dose Administration

Salbutamol, a short-acting β2-adrenergic receptor agonist, due to illegal use in animal feed, is very dangerous for the safety of animal origin products. The purpose of this study is to determine the residue of salbutamol in plasma and urine of balinese calf after a single-dose administration. Three calves were given of feed fortification of salbutamol (10 mg/kg body weight). The salbutamol concentrations were measured in the plasma and urine. Samples were extracted with perchloric acid and purified by cation exchange solid phase extraction (SPE), then analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with a photodiode array detector using an RP C18 column with a mixed mobile phase of purified water pH 3.0 (adjusted with phosphoric acid) and acetonitrile (90:10, v/v). The highest salbutamol concentration in the plasma sample was 0.28±0.15 μg/mL at 12 hours and decreased after 24 hours after feeding. The highest concentration of salbutamol in urine was 15.85±4.42 μg/mL at 18 hours and decreased gradually starting at 24 hours. This result concluded that salbutamol residues mostly excreted in the urine, and the highest salbutamol residues in plasma samples formed faster but also decreased more rapidly than residues formed in urine. The residue formed in plasma is lower than that in the urine.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective: To determine the frequency of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in our population Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at medical out-patient Department, Services Hospital, Lahore; from September 2014 to March 2015. All the patients having chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) were included. COPD was defined as the patients having a ratio of “forced expiratory volume in one second” (FEVI) to “forced vital capacity” (FVC) below 70% and having no improvement in FEVI after bronchodilator. Severity GERD was categorized as per episodes of symptoms. Information regarding the frequency of GERD was collected via study proforma. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results: Overall 100 cases were studied; their mean age was 47.54+3.62 years. Out of all 90% were males and 10% were females. Frequency of GERD in patients with COPD reveals 33%, followed by 03% study subjects had mild GERD, 7% had moderate, 11% had severe and 12% had very severe symptoms of GERD, while 67% had no nay symptoms of GERD. Conclusion: In the conclusion the frequency of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) was found to be 33.0% among COPD subjects.
Fish communities critically depend on forest subsidies in small neotropical streams with high biodiversity value

Trophic support of species‐rich tropical fish communities remains uncertain in small forest streams where dense and constant canopy cover strongly limits the solar radiation available to aquatic producers. We sampled >1300 fish from 80 species in 14 remote headwater streams during the dry season in French Guiana. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses and mixing models were run to estimate the trophic position (TP) of each species and its dependence on terrestrial organic carbon sources. Matching patterns were found between nitrogen stable isotope ratios and the literature on diets of species at the base and top of the food web. Nearly 60% of the species fed exclusively on animal prey (mean TP >3), including piscivorous and parasitic fish species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that TP were distributed broadly along the phylogeny and changed gradually within lineages. Carbon stable isotope ratios differed strongly between herbivores that fed on aquatic primary producers and those that fed on terrestrial plants along banksides. Terrestrial carbon was dominant in nearly 90% of species, and most of them depended more or less exclusively on terrestrial carbon. Ancestral state reconstructions indicated that only a few lineages showed local changes toward the consumption of algal carbon. We conclude that fish in neotropical headwater streams shaded by a dense tree canopy depend strongly on terrestrial subsidies. Changes in this aquatic‐terrestrial linkage would have major consequences for the remarkable fish biodiversity in these streams.
Evaluation of toxic effect of bamboo preservatives on Lactuca sativa germination and growth

Materials such as wood and bamboo in their various applications are subject to degradation by deteriorating organisms like fungi and insects. Chemical treatments are routinely used by bamboo professionals aiming to control this degradation. However, it is usual the dispose of these used solutions on soil and the environmental risks and effects on vegetation of this improper disposal are still unknown. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the phytotoxicity of CCB solutions (compound based on copper, chromium and boron), tetrahydrate sodium octaborate and CB (copper sulfate with boric acid) under different concentrations in the germination and development of lettuce ( Lactuca sativa ). The pH and electrical conductivity of the prepared solutions were also measured. The results show that the three preservatives are phytotoxic and inhibit root development, even after dilutions of 50 times that used by professionals. Thus, the disposal of these effluents in the soil or water bodies may have negative environmental impacts on vegetation, requiring treatment after use on preservation of the culms or higher dilutions of the effluents before the disposal.
EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTAL SANGROVIT ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL INDICES AND LEUKOCYTES PHAGOCYTIC ACTIVITY IN GROWING PIGS

We evaluated the effects of the phytogenic feed additive Sangrovit (30 g/t) on some biochemical parameters in growing pigs and compared the result with those in untreated (control) or treated with the antibiotic Flavomicin (5 g/t) pigs. The treatment period started immediately after weaning (at 7 kg live weight and finished when the pigs reached 50 kg live weight. Blood was taken from ophthalmic vein immediately before the treatment period (pretreatment period), at the end of starter (20 kg) and grower (50 kg) periods. Sangrovit resulted in a sharp decline in cholesterol level during the starter period in comparison with control (P<0.001) and Flavomicin treated (P<0.01) pigs, but had no effect on plasma indol and urea levels. Sangrovit increased serum lysozyme concentration (P<0.05) both during starter and grower period and stimulated the phagocytic index during the starter period.
Inventory, diversity and therapeutic uses of medicinal plants in the Tiaret Mountains (western Algeria)

This study is devoted to the floristic (systematic, biology, chorology) and therapeutic (treated uses and diseases) analysis of medicinal plants in the Tiaret Mountains (western Algeria). The floristic inventory allowed us to identify 108 medicinal plants belonging to 41 families, including the dominance of the Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae and Orchidaceae with (15.7%, 7.4%, 5.6%, 5.6%) respectively. Also we identified 3 endemic, 4 rare and 8 protected species. The biological spectrum of these species is characterized by a high presence of the Therophytes (38%) followed by the Phanerophytes (20.4%). In biogeographical terms, Mediterranean biogeographical species are the most represented and make up more than half of the medicinal flora (52.8%). These plants are mainly used in order of importance in the treatment of the digestive tract, cardiovascular and dermal diseases with percentages of 18.6%, 10.7%, 7.5%.
Effect of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Breast Milk on Nipple Soreness among Lactating Mothers: Comparative Study

Introduction: Advantages of breastfeeding are indubitable. But painful, sore nipples are upsetting for the mothers and may lead to stop nursing before the commended time. Aim of the study : explore the effect of olive oil, coconut oil, breast milk on nipple soreness among lactating mothers. Methodology : Experimental study involved 135 postpartum women visited outpatient as postpartum follow up for labor in Itay El-baroud Central Hospital and National Medical Institute of Damanhour City, Egypt. They were randomly categorized into three groups: Group 1 (using Olive oil), group 2 (using Coconut oil) and group 3 (Using breast milk). Nipple trauma score (NTS) was used to assess nipple soreness at 1st, 7th, 14th day post intervention. Results : there was highly significant difference between mean score of olive oil group and coconut oil group at 1st , 7th , 14th with p value <0.01. While, there was slight significant difference at breast milk group at p value <0.05. While, there was highly significant difference between mean scores of three groups at 7th and 14th day with p value <0.01. But, there was no significant difference between three groups at 1st day with p value >0.05. Conclusion : According to these findings, the current study detected that olive oil, coconut oil and breast milk had positive effect on management of nipple soreness, breast milk had least effect while olive oil had highest effect.
Performance Evaluation of Intel Optane Memory for Managed Workloads

Intel Optane memory offers non-volatility, byte addressability, and high capacity. It suits managed workloads that prefer large main memory heaps. We investigate Optane as the main memory for managed (Java) workloads, focusing on performance scalability. As the workload (core count) increases, we note Optane’s performance relative to DRAM. A few workloads incur a slight slowdown on Optane memory, which helps conserve limited DRAM capacity. Unfortunately, other workloads scale poorly beyond a few core counts. This article investigates scaling bottlenecks for Java workloads on Optane memory, analyzing the application, runtime, and microarchitectural interactions. Poorly scaling workloads allocate objects rapidly and access objects in Optane memory frequently. These characteristics slow down the mutator and substantially slow down garbage collection (GC). At the microarchitecture level, load, store, and instruction miss penalties rise. To regain performance, we partition heaps across DRAM and Optane memory, a hybrid that scales considerably better than Optane alone. We exploit state-of-the-art GC approaches to partition heaps. Unfortunately, existing GC approaches needlessly waste DRAM capacity because they ignore runtime behavior. This article also introduces performance impact-guided memory allocation (PIMA) for hybrid memories. PIMA maximizes Optane utilization, allocating in DRAM only if it improves performance. It estimates the performance impact of allocating heaps in either memory type by sampling. We target PIMA at graph analytics workloads, offering a novel performance estimation method and detailed evaluation. PIMA identifies workload phases that benefit from DRAM with high (94.33%) accuracy, incurring only a 2% sampling overhead. PIMA operates stand-alone or combines with prior approaches to offer new performance versus DRAM capacity trade-offs. This work opens up Optane memory to a real-life role as the main memory for Java workloads.
Semantic decisions in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders - functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

OBJECTIVES Goal: to assess fMRI activation during semantic tasks in adolescents with ASD. METHODS Material: 44 right-handed male adolescents aged 12-19 (mean 14.3 ± 2.0) - 31 with autism spectrum disorders who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for Asperger's syndrome and 13 neurotypical adolescents matched according to age and handiness. Method: Functional testing (fMRI) was performed during semantic decisions tasks and phonological decisions in three categories of tasks: concrete nouns, verbs with plural meanings, words describing states of mind, as a control condition. Statistical analyzes were performed at the level of p <0.05 with FWE (family-wise error) correction and p <0.001. RESULTS Results: lower BOLD signal was demonstrated in many brain areas including precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus, angular gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, regardless of task category and processing method in the ASD group. The smallest differences in semantic processing were found for concrete nouns and the greatest ones for words describing states of mind. CONCLUSIONS Conclusions: the presence of different activation patterns in the ASD group suggests that far more than just the areas traditionally attributed to language processing, are involved in semantic deficits in ASD.
Location and Vascular Classification of 188 parathyroid glands in New Zealand White Rabbits

The function and protection of the parathyroid glands are increasingly popular research topics. New Zealand white rabbits are the most commonly used animal model of parathyroid ischemia. However, information on the vasculature of their parathyroid glands is limited. We used 94 healthy New Zealand white rabbits, 3–4 months of age and 2–3kg in weight, for exploration of the parathyroid glands, which were stained using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) after removal. The following types were classified according to the relationship between the position of the inferior parathyroid gland and the thyroid: Type A, Close Type, Type B, and Distant Type. There were 188 cases, 4 where the inferior parathyroid glands were located near the dorsal side of thyroid (2.13%), 8 where the inferior parathyroid glands were located superior to the upper pole of the thyroid (4.26%), 20 where the inferior parathyroid glands were located parallel to the thyroid (10.64%), and 155 cases where the inferior parathyroid glands were located inferior to the lower pole of thyroid (82.45%). Identifying the location and classifying the vasculature of the parathyroid glands in New Zealand white rabbits will provide an anatomical model to assist in future research.
The Effect of Service Quality, Trust and Satisfaction of Banks Customer Loyalty

One of the necessities of life that is no less important in this era is the need for banking services. The number of competitors in the same type of banking makes competitors competing to get the attention of customers, which customers are now more intelligent to determine their choices. Therefore, banking service companies need to have the right strategy in order to prevent customers from moving to other competitors. Banking companies must be able to provide quality services so that it will have an impact on customer loyalty. For more details, the purpose of this study is to look at the effect of service quality, trust, and satisfaction on bank customer loyalty. The population in this study is 245 bank customers. This research is causality research using a quantitative approach. Data is collected by using a questionnaire. The analytical method used is the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The results showed that: First, good service quality will increase customer satisfaction. Second, good service quality will increase customer confidence. Third, good service quality will increase customer loyalty. Fourth, high customer satisfaction will increase customer loyalty. Five, high customer trust will increase customer loyalty. Sixth, customer satisfaction and trust is able to mediate the relationship between service quality and bank customer loyalty.
Improving the structural and physical properties of boric acid-doped rigid polyurethane materials

In this study, the internal structure and physical properties of boric acid-doped rigid polyurethane (PU) materials were investigated. 5%, 10%, and 15% of boric acid were added into PU material compared to the total mass. These rigid PUs were subjected to scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal conductivity, and density determination for analysis. Boric acid addition resulted in a decrease of 57.2% in thermal conductivity and 67.8% in density compared to raw PU material. It has been shown that it provides support for the formation of cell structure. In addition to, it is also found that there are no impurity atoms in the structure and the structure is formed in the tetragonal phase.
Risk Assessment and Sustainability of Wastewater Treatment Plant Operation

Water and water management, which also includes wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), are considered essential elements critical infrastructure. A disruption of their operation can result in the discharge of wastewater into the environment without having been adequately treated. This can cause health problems, contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water, etc. In order to provide operational safety and sustainability of WWTP operation, it is necessary to establish protection against potential risk activation, together with risk minimization and enhanced preparedness to address the risks. The article deals with the application of risk management stages on the selected object of the municipal WWTP facility in the form of a case study. The risk identification phase consisted of the identification of assets and risks. The assets were grouped together due to the complexity of the WWTP operation. A combination of methods, a safety audit, a checklist and semi-structured interviews were used to identify the risks in three iterations. A risk register was created as a result of the risk identification phase. Subsequently, a risk analysis was carried out, in which the scenarios of the risk impact on the assets were examined, the index levels of probability and impacts were determined, and the risk estimate was performed. The Bowtie Analysis Method was used to illustrate the causes and consequences for one of the critical risks. The result of the study is the risk evaluation identified undesirable and unacceptable risks for which risk management methods were proposed