Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of stacking ensemble machine learning algorithm in predicting the cost of highway construction projects

PurposeThe purpose of this study to apply stacking ensemble machine learning algorithm for predicting the cost of highway construction projects.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed stacking ensemble model was developed by combining three distinct base predictive models automatically and optimally: linear regression, support vector machine and artificial neural network models using gradient boosting algorithm as meta-regressor.FindingsThe findings reveal that the proposed model predicted the final project cost with a very small prediction error value. This implies that the difference between predicted and actual cost was quite small. A comparison of the results of the models revealed that in all performance metrics, the stacking ensemble model outperforms the sole ones. The stacking ensemble cost model produces 86.8, 87.8 and 5.6 percent more accurate results than linear regression, vector machine support, and neural network models, respectively, based on the root mean square error values.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shows how stacking ensemble machine learning algorithm applies to predict the cost of construction projects. The estimators or practitioners can use the new model as an effectual and reliable tool for predicting the cost of Ethiopian highway construction projects at the preliminary stage.Originality/valueThe study provides insight into the machine learning algorithm application in forecasting the cost of future highway construction projects in Ethiopia.
Electrochemical Responses of Graphene with Biofilm Formation on Various Metallic Substrates by Using Laboratory Biofilm Reactors

Graphene is an advanced material. We confirmed in our previous paper that graphene is very sensitive to biofilm formation. Therefore, it may be utilized as a sensor for biofilm formation in the future. In this experiment, we used graphite and multi-layer graphene, which we obtained by repeating an exfoliation method. The biofilm formation was evaluated by crystal violet staining, Raman spectroscopy, and chronoamperometry in dilute sulfuric acid. The final technique was an adventurous trial. However, the method provided us with reasonable data, as compared with the results of the other two conventional methods.
THE DESCRIPTION OF PARENTS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS IN ACCOMPANYING CHILDREN TO LEARN DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STUDY FROM HOME (SFH) IN MAKASSAR CITY AND GOWA REGENCY

Abstract:This study aims to investigate the psychological conditions of parents in assisting children in learning during the implementation of Study from Home (SFH) in Makassar City and Gowa Regency. This study used quantitative survey research. The samples were 159 parents who were selected by random sampling. The instrument used was a questionnaire containing closed, semi-closed, and open-ended questions distributed using Google forms. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that parents considered SFH as a moment to accompany and be closer with their children. The parents' perception of online learning was less effective (36.8%) for their children because of limited internet access (57.9%), many distractions from home (34%), and the parents did not understand the matter (17.6). The children’s complaints during SFH were: not being able to play and do homework in groups (37.1%), lot of tasks (homework) (32.1%), preferred taught by teachers directly (29.6%) and felt bored (29.6%). The parents perceived SFH as follows; feeling comfortable with family (62.9%), bored with routine (31.4%), increased workload (18.9%). However, the physical complaints were less because the parents’ role was powerful in accompanying the children during SFH. Moreover, the family harmony increased with this moment. This study recommends that parents continue the habits to assist children in learning.Abstrak:Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk memperoleh gambaran kondisi psikologis orang tua saat mendampingi anak belajar selama Study from Home (SFH) di Kota Makassar dan Kabupaten Gowa. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kuantitatif jenis survey. Jumlah sampel yakni 159 orang tua yang terpilih secara random sampling. Pengumpulan data menggunakan kusioner yang berisi pertanyaan tertutup, semi tertutup dan pertanyaan terbuka yang disebarkan menggunakan google formulir. Data yang terkumpul dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa SFH dimaknai oleh orang tua sebagai moment untuk mendampingi dan lebih dekat dengan anak. Orang tua merasakan metode daring kurang efektif (36,8%) bagi anaknya, sebab: akses internet yang terbatas (57,9%), banyak gangguan dirumah (34%), dan orangtua tidak memahami materi pelajaran anak (17,6). Keluhan yang dirasakan oleh anak selama SFH adalah: tidak bisa bermain dan kerja kelompok (37,1%), banyak tugas (32,1%), lebih suka guru yang ajar (29,6%), dan bosan (29,6%). Adapun orangtua memaknai SFHberupa; perasaan nyaman dengan keluarga (62,9%), bosan dengan rutinitas (31,4%), beban kerja bertambah (18,9%). Namun demikian, keluhan fisik tidak terlalu dirasakannya karena peran orangtua sangat kuat dalam mendampingi keluarga selama SFH, bahkan merasa bahwa dengan moment ini keharmonisan keluarga menjadi meningkat. Oleh karena itu direkomendasikan bagi orangtua untuk meneruskan kebiasaan yang sudah terbentuk yakni mendampingi anak belajar.
Avaliação da qualidade oleoquímica das sementes de gergelim (Sesamum indicum) e girassol (Helianthus annus)

Vegetable oils are extremely important for the human organism, being considered a source of energy and of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), and fundamental in promoting the taste of food. Sunflower oil is obtained from the seed of the plant Helianthus annuus L. , of the Compositae family, standing out for being the fourth oilseed in grain production and the fifth in cultivated area in the world. Another valuable seed used for oil extraction is sesame (Sesamum indicum, L.), which belongs to the Pedaliaceae family. Due to the quality and characteristics of some vegetable oils, which may change after long periods of storage, thus giving relevance to studies on the determination of these changes. From this, this work had the objective of evaluating the quality of the sesame and sunflower oil, commercial and cold extracted, to obtain more information about the alterations occurred during the storage period and its oxidative potential. The oleochemical analyzes were performed using the variables related to the iodine, peroxide, acidity and % free fatty acids (FFA) indices, where the analyzes were performed in triplicates. As a result, the commercialized sesame and sunflower oils showed values ​​above the limits recommended by the RDC No. 270, of September 22, 2005, in relation to the cold extracting sesame and sunflower oleochemical indexes presented adequate values. The contribution of the work developed shows that oils after extraction, industrial processing and depending on storage conditions can present vulnerability and compromise their quality.
Exploring Factors and Indicators for Measuring Students' Performance in Moodle Learning Environment

One of the most important pillars of smart cities is the smart learning environ-ment. This environment should be well prepared and managed to improve the in-struction process for instructors from one side and the learning process for stu-dents from the other side. This paper presents the student’s Engagement, Behav-ior and Personality (EBP) predictive model. This model uses Moodle log data to investigate the influence and the effect of the students’ EBP factors on their per-formance. For this purpose, this paper uses the data log files of the "Search Strat-egies on the Internet" online course in Fall 2019 at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) extracted from Moodle database. The intention of conducting this kind of experiments is of three-facets: 1. to assist in gaining a holistic understanding of online learning environments by focusing on student EBP and performance with-in the course activities, 2. to explore whether the student’s EBP can be considered as indicators for predicting student’s performance in online courses, and 3. to support instructors with insights to develop better learning strategies and tailor instructions for personal learning of individual students. Moreover, this paper takes a step forward in identifying effective methods to measure student’s EBP during the learning process. This may contribute to proposing a framework for the smart learning behavior environment that would guide the instructors to ob-serve students’ performance in a more creative way. All the 38 students who participated in this experiment had compatible statistics and results as the relationship between their Engagement, Behavior, Personality was symmetric with their Performance. This relationship was presented using a group of condition rules (If-then). The extracted rules gave us a straightforward and visual picture of the rela-tionship between the factors mentioned in this paper.
How State and Protester Violence Affect Protest Dynamics

How do state and protester violence affect whether protests grow or shrink? Previous research finds conflicting results for how violence affects protest dynamics. This article argues that expectations and emotions should generate an n-shaped relationship between the severity of state repression and changes in protest size the next day. Protester violence should reduce the appeal of protesting and increase the expected cost of protesting, decreasing subsequent protest size. Since testing this argument requires precise measurements, a pipeline is built that applies convolutional neural networks to images shared in geolocated tweets. Continuously valued estimates of state and protester violence are generated per city-day for 24 cities across five countries, as are estimates of protest size and the age and gender of protesters. The results suggest a solution to the repression-dissent puzzle and join a growing body of research benefiting from the use of social media to understand subnational conflict.
Decision Making Styles of Sri Lankan Millennial: Are They Different?

At present consumer decision making is more complex and difficult but far more vitally in it is important than the past as the consumers today are thorough consumers. Therefore, consumer decision-making styles have become one of the most popular and interesting areas of research in the marketing and behavioral sciences of academia. Besides, in the modern marketing era, Millennial has become one of the major interesting research subject due to their unique characteristics. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a more rigorous understanding of the Sri Lankan millennial decision-making styles. The research philosophy of the current study is a positivist research paradigm and follows a deductive approach and survey strategy. Convenience sampling technique was used to draw the sample and the sample size was 385. The study extracted seven factors from the original Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) scale through an exploratory factor analysis and found that Sri Lankan millennial has seven decision making styles namely Perfectionist Conscious, Habitual & Brand Loyal Conscious, Novelty Fashion Conscious, Brand Conscious, Hedonistic & Recreational Conscious, Confused by over choice and Impulsive Consumer. Further it revealed Price - conscious decision - making style did not appear among the Sri Lankan Millennial where Sri Lankan millennial are highly perfectionist conscious consumers. Based on the findings, study proposes several theoretical and practical implications along with direction for the future research.
ESG Ratings and Stock Performance during the COVID-19 Crisis

We investigate the association between Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings and stock performance during the COVID-19 crisis. Although there is mixed evidence in the literature whether ESG is valuable in times of crisis, we find high ESG-rated European firms to be associated with higher abnormal returns and lower stock volatility. After decomposing ESG into its separate components, we find the social score to be the predominant driver of our results. Further, we argue that ESG is value-enhancing in low-trust countries, and in countries with poorer security regulations and where lower disclosure standards prevail.
Unequal and Asymmetric Internationalisation of Large Russian Cities

Pour evaluer le degre d'internationalisation des villes en Russie, l'article presente le classement effectue en 2017 de 20 grandes capitales regionales russes de plus de 600 000 habitants sur la base de 13 indicateurs. Le document conclut qu'en 2017, Ekaterinbourg est devenu un leader confiant de l'internationalisation, tandis que Novossibirsk, Kazan, Nijni Novgorod, Krasnodar et Rostov-sur-le-Don se distinguent comme d'autres grandes villes russes hautement internationalisees. Dans le meme temps, 14 des 20 capitales regionales russes de l'echantillon presentent une internationalisation asymetrique ou faible. En outre, l'article presente l'indice d'internationalisation electronique comme un outil de comparaison qualitative des activites de marketing international en ligne des villes.
Standardization of time of budding and sweet orange cultivars on Carrizo rootstock

In sexual propagation of citrus long juvenility, genetic impurity and self incompatibility are the major problems. Hence the use of suitable rootstock is a pre-requisite in citrus propagation. Now a days, the cultivation of sweet orange is boosting up among citrus cultivation. Due to this, there is a great need for the evaluation of sweet orange cultivars onto an appropriate rootstock. A research trial was carried out in consideration with ‘Blood Red’, ‘Jaffa’ and ‘Valencia Late’ sweet orange cultivars T-budded on Carrizo rootstock at five different intervals of first week of July, August, September, October and February. The treatments were replicated thrice and statistically arranged in factorial randomized complete block design. As a result of the study significant variations were noticed in the performance of cultivars under study at various budding intervals. Out of the sweet orange cultivars ‘Blood Red’ was the first to initiate sprouting in 28.30 days with healing of bud union in 31.39 days, maximum survival (89.40%), plant height (22.93 cm), number of branches buddling-1 (1.14), leaf total nitrogen (1.89%), phosphorus (0.07%) and potassium (1.26%). Among budding intervals, the plants budded on the first week of September were the first to sprout in 26.46 days achieving maximum (23.04 cm) plant height, branches buddling-1 (1.15) root formation of (5.98 cm3) volume and survival percentage (91.99). Commercially, ‘Blood Red’ sweet orange cultivar budded in the first week of September can be cultivated for superior progeny.
The genetic causes of infertility in patients with oligozoospermia and azoospermia in Turkish population

Objective: Advances in the science of genetics and the development of assisted reproductive techniques focus on the genetic causes of infertility. The aim of this research is to reveal genetic abnormalities in terms of sex chromosome aneuploidy and Y chromosome microdeletions. Material and Methods: A total of 350 patients with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia were selected. After general examination of the patients and laboratory investigations were performed, cartoypes and Y chromosome microdeletions were examined. Results: A total of 225 infertile men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and 125 infertile men with oligozoospermia were enrolled into the study. The overall cytogenetic anomaly rate was 16%. Chromosomal changes were detected in 32 of 350 (9.1%) cases. The most common genetic anomaly was 47, XXY (Klinefelter syndrome) and the incidence was 11.5% in NOA group. This rate was 3.2% in oligozoospermia group. Y chromosome microdeletions were detected in 24 (6.8%) patients and similarly, it was observed more frequently in the NOA group than in the oligozoospermia group. Conclusion: The incidence of genetic causes have been increasing with the severity of infertility. As a result, genetic screening and appropriate genetic counseling are needed before the use of assisted reproductive techniques. Keywords: azospermia, chromosome, infertility, microdeletion, oligozoospermiaage
Productive Characteristics and Fruit Quality Traits of Cherry Tomato Hybrids as Modulated by Grafting on Different Solanum spp. Rootstocks under Ralstonia solanacearum Infested Greenhouse Soil

Grafting is increasingly becoming an indispensable tool that minimizes the risks associated with intensive vegetable production systems, including soil-borne diseases. This study assesses the performance of two cherry tomato hybrids (‘Cheramy’ and ‘Sheeja’) grafted onto three tomato and five eggplant local rootstock genotypes (cultivated/wild) under Ralstonia solanacearum (bacterial wilt)-infested greenhouse soil. The impact of grafting on growth, yield and fruit physical quality was mainly influenced by the response of rootstocks to disease resistance. The non-grafted plants of both the cultivars were severely affected by bacterial wilt, thus presenting high susceptibility to disease. Eggplant rootstocks imparted moderate to high resistance against bacterial wilt in both the scions, while tomato (cultivated or wild) rootstocks did not improve disease resistance, except ‘Anagha’, which provided resistance to scion cv. ‘Cheramy’. In general, scion cv. ‘Cheramy’, grafted or non-grafted, showed superior growth, yield and fruit quality compared to ‘Sheeja’. The most productive graft combinations for both the cultivars involved resistant rootstocks, i.e., ‘Sheeja’ onto eggplant rootstock ‘Surya’, and ‘Cheramy’ onto tomato rootstock ‘Anagha’. Fruit quality attributes such as ascorbic acid and lycopene contents were considerably higher, and the total soluble solids (TSS) content was considerably lower in scion cv. ‘Cheramy’, whether grafted or non-grafted, than those involving scion cv. ‘Sheeja’. The grafting effect on fruit chemical quality attributes was not promising, except grafting ‘Sheeja’ onto ‘Sopim’ for TSS, ‘Sheeja’ onto ‘Sotor’ for lycopene and ‘Cheramy’ onto ‘Ponny’ for total phenols, though no clear connection with disease incidence was in these grafts. Conclusively, eggplant rootstock imparted wilt resistance, while both eggplant and tomato rootstock grafting was beneficial to both scion cultivars in boosting the overall production and economic gains, especially for ‘Cheramy’ grafted onto ‘Anagha’ rootstock under bacterial wilt infested soil of greenhouse.
STUDYING ENGLISH UNDER COVID-19 QUARANTINE: UKRAINIAN AND INDIAN STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES

The article deals with Ukrainian and Indian students’ perspectives of studying English online during the pandemic. This study was conducted at National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” and Bharat Vidyalaya, Buldana, Maharashtra, India. A mixed method research design was used in the study: quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from two surveys completed by students anonymously as Google Forms. The research indicated that more Indian than Ukrainian students confirmed that they prepared for the English class. While nearly a third of Ukrainian students’ suggestions on effectiveness of English lessons were about speaking and communication, Indian respondents also proposed preparation and revision. Indian students preferred learning something new to grades. Over half of Indian students and a third of Ukrainian students opted for working in groups. From the findings, we can see that most Indian and Ukrainian students had their working space, necessary devices and the Internet connection for studying online. Ukrainian students were more positive about feeling safer with their cameras turned off than Indian students. It was easier for most Indian and Ukrainian students to concentrate in a face-to-face class than in an online class. However, Indian students were mostly positive about studying English online. Most respondents indicated agreement about developing self-directed learning skills while studying English online. Ukrainian students chose speaking, reading and writing as skills better developed online, while Indian students opted for listening skills. The findings of the research provide valuable information related to students’ attitudes towards studying English online considering which may improve teaching and learning distantly. The research results show that despite understanding the necessity of studying online, some students are reluctant to accept it fully. Moreover, there are some intercultural differences related to social distance in the cultures.
Investigating the State-of-the-Art Performance and Explainability of Legal Judgment Prediction

In the past decade deep learning models have achieved impressive performance on a wide range of tasks. However, they still face challenges in many high-stakes problems. In this paper we study Legal Judgment Prediction (LJP), which is an important high-stakes task utilizing fact descriptions obtained from court cases to make ﬁnal judgements. We investigate the state-of-the-art of the LJP task by leveraging the most recent deep learning models, longformer , and demonstrate that we obtain the state-of-the-art performance, even with a limited amount of training data, beneﬁting from the advantage of pretraining and the long-sequence modeling capability of longformer . However, our analyses suggest that the improvement is due to the model’s ﬁtting to spurious correlations , in which the model makes correct decisions based on information irrelevant to the task itself. We advocate that caution should be seriously exercised when explaining the obtained results. The second challenge in many high-stakes problems is interpretability required for models. The ﬁnal predictions made by deep learning models are useful only if the evidences that support the models’ decisions are consistent with those used by subject-matter experts. We demonstrate that by using post-hoc interpretation, the conventional method XGBoost is actually capable of providing explainable results with a performance comparable to the longformer model, while not being subject to the spurious correlation issue. We hope our work contributes to the line of research on understanding the advantages and limitations of deep learning for high-stakes problems.
Sustainability reporting and agriculture industries’ performance: worldwide evidence

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of sustainability reporting on agriculture industries’ performance (operational, financial and market). Design/methodology/approachUsing data culled from 1426 observations from 31 different countries for ten years (2008–2017), an independent variable derived from the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) score is regressed against dependent manufacture performance indicator variables [return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and Tobin's Q (TQ)]. Two types of control variables complete the regression analysis in this study: firm-specific and macroeconomic.FindingsThe findings elicited from the empirical results demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between ESG and operational performance (ROA), financial performance (ROE) and market performance (TQ). Surprisingly, when each component of ESG is regressed separately against the performance, the results reveal that governance disclosure has a positive impact on market performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study captures only quantity rather than the quality of ESG disclosure. Therefore, the results of this study may not necessarily give the “true” motivation for firms to disclose sustainability activities.Originality/valueThis study highlights the agriculture industry management lacunae manifesting in terms of the weak nexus between each component of ESG and agriculture industries’ performance.