Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From the CMF to the IMF: beyond the core-collapse model

Observations have indicated that the pre-stellar core mass function (CMF) is similar to the stellar initial mass function (IMF), except for an offset towards larger masses. This has led to the idea that there is a one-to-one relation between cores and stars, such that the whole stellar mass reservoir is contained in a gravitationally bound pre-stellar core, as postulated by the core-collapse model, and assumed in recent theoretical models of the stellar IMF. We test the validity of this assumption by comparing the final mass of stars with the mass of their progenitor cores in a high-resolution star formation simulation that generates a realistic IMF under physical condition characteristic of observed molecular clouds. Using a definition of bound cores similar to previous works we obtain a CMF that converges with increasing numerical resolution. We find that the CMF and the IMF are closely related in a statistical sense only; for any individual star there is only a weak correlation between the progenitor core mass and the final stellar mass. In particular, for high-mass stars only a small fraction of the final stellar mass comes from the progenitor core, and even for low-mass stars the fraction is highly variable, with a median fraction of only about 50 per cent. We conclude that the core-collapse scenario and related models for the origin of the IMF are incomplete. We also show that competitive accretion is not a viable alternative.
A Minimax Theorem for Nonconcave-Nonconvex Games or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Mixed-Nash and Love Neural Nets

Adversarial training, a special case of multi-objective optimization, is an increasingly prevalent machine learning technique: some of its most notable applications include GAN-based generative modeling and self-play techniques in reinforcement learning which have been applied to complex games such as Go or Poker. In practice, a \emph{single} pair of networks is typically trained in order to find an approximate equilibrium of a highly nonconcave-nonconvex adversarial problem. However, while a classic result in game theory states such an equilibrium exists in concave-convex games, there is no analogous guarantee if the payoff is nonconcave-nonconvex. Our main contribution is to provide an approximate minimax theorem for a large class of games where the players pick neural networks including WGAN, StarCraft II, and Blotto Game. Our findings rely on the fact that despite being nonconcave-nonconvex with respect to the neural networks parameters, these games are concave-convex with respect to the actual models (e.g., functions or distributions) represented by these neural networks.
Unsupervised anomaly detection with adversarial mirrored autoencoders

Detecting out of distribution (OOD) samples is of paramount importance in all Machine Learning applications. Deep generative modeling has emerged as a dominant paradigm to model complex data distributions without labels. However, prior work has shown that generative models tend to assign higher likelihoods to OOD samples compared to the data distribution on which they were trained. First, we propose Adversarial Mirrored Autoencoder (AMA), a variant of Adversarial Autoencoder, which uses a mirrored Wasserstein loss in the discriminator to enforce better semantic-level reconstruction. We also propose a latent space regularization to learn a compact manifold for in-distribution samples. The use of AMA produces better feature representations that improve anomaly detection performance. Second, we put forward an alternative measure of anomaly score to replace the reconstruction-based metric which has been traditionally used in generative model-based anomaly detection methods. Our method outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods for anomaly detection on several OOD detection benchmarks.
Carbon Dioxide Application for Rapid Production of Cement Particleboard

Conventional pressing techniques in the manufacturing process of cement-bonded particleboard require an 8to 24-h damp time. By injecting CO2 into a cement-bonded particle board, board compaction pressure can be released in 4-1/2 min. The carbon dioxide treatment also reduces the inhibiting effect that many species have on cement hydration. The objective in this study was to determine the effect of changes in fabrication and pressing variables for cement-bonded wood composites on composite properties immediately after pressing and following a 28-day curing period in boards pressed using a carbon dioxide injection pressing technique. Two gas injection pressing methods, along with variations in board specific gravity, wood/cement ratio, and water/cement ratio were investigated, Weight gain, an indicator of gas utilization, was dependent on board permeability and could be related to the extent of wood compaction. In this study, boards made with Southern Pine had a bending modulus of elasticity (MOE) value 1.9 times greater and a bending modulus of rupture (MOR) value 25 times greater than that of boards pressed in the conventional manner. Bending MOR increased with increases in amount and compaction of wood. whereas bending MOE was more dependent on amount of cement. Increasing the water/cement ratio reduced gas penetration and lowered both MOR and MOE values.
Parental Hearing Status and Sign Language Use as Predictors of English Literacy Outcomes for Deaf Children in a Bilingual Educational Setting

Deaf children in the United States are not achieving age-appropriate literacy in English. Nearly 90-95% of deaf infants are born to hearing parents who do not know American Sign Language (ASL). These deaf children are experiencing limited access to a spoken language and as a result do not develop skills needed to be prepared for academic learning because language acquisition during the sensitive period in development is crucial for the development of literacy skills. However, 5-10% of deaf children have deaf parents who use ASL. Studies show correlations between higher ASL fluency and higher English literacy scores in deaf children from deaf parents. The current study uses NWEA Measures of Academic Performance (MAP) Literacy data from 778 deaf children attending ASL-English bilingual school in the Southwestern United States to examine pathways by which ASL can boost print English literacy using Vygotsky’s social cultural theory of language and cultural development. Covariates included socio-economic status, age of ASL exposure, and age of entry to school. It was predicted that (1) deaf children from signing parents would show faster growth in their MAP literacy and (2) within families who report signing, those from deaf parents will show faster literacy growth than those from hearing parents. Results from a multi-level modeling analysis showed that deaf children from signing parents had a 2.5-year advantage on their MAP performance at school entry and deaf children from deaf signing families had a 4.5-year advantage on their MAP performance at school entry. Implications for effects of covariates on the growth models are discussed.
Characterization of Bioaerosols using Electron Microscopy with Special Emphasis on Airborne Bacteria

Bioterrorist attacks on confined, indoor areas such as underground subway stations by the release of pathogenic microorganisms into air, could pose a threat to public safety. The potential threat may be severe not only due to the adverse health effects themselves, but also because of the lack of efficient and reliable on-site biological aerosol (bioaerosol) monitoring systems. As of the present situation, possible bioterrorist attacks on e.g. underground subway systems may remain undiscovered until infected individuals seek medical assistance, which may not happen before several days after the attack. Knowledge about the morphology of bioaerosols, as they appear in air, may be important in the development of fast and reliable bioaerosol detectors. This study concentrates on providing such knowledge by investigating and comparing different methods of characterizing bioaerosols by electron microscopy, using aerosolized, vegetative bacteria and bacterial spores as models. The study addresses challenges associated with electron microscopy of bioaerosols, including dehydration artifacts and identification of biological material in a complex, environmental sample. Bioaerosol sampling is also addressed. The results of this study suggest that sampling, preservation and electron microscopy of bioaerosols is more challenging than the equivalent for non-aerosolized biological material, owing to the complex composite nature of the bioaerosols, and the challenges associated with sampling them. Experiments with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS/EDX) indicate that bioaerosols can be distinguished from inorganic particles in environmental samples, provided that the bioaerosols are not associated with inorganic material. Conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) does not prevent bioaerosol dehydration, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) does not provide sufficient information about the morphology of bioaerosols. Critical point drying (CPD) is promising in some regards of bioaerosol preparation for SEM, but preserving bioaerosol morphology as it is in air, however, is also dependent on the particles not dehydrating during sampling. Future studies are necessary to provide an optimal method of bioaerosol characterization using electron microscopy. This work however, provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced in such regards, and presents information which may propel research into bioaerosol characterization and detection a small step forward.
OSCILLATION BEHAVIORS OF FREELY FALLING RAINDROPS

As the raindrop shape is a key parameter in, e.g., the remote measurement of rain fall rates and nowcasting of precipitation using dual-polarization radars, the accurate knowledge of the oscillation behaviour of the raindrops is of great importance. In particular, it needs to be clarified whether the dynamic average shape (affected by oscillation) is the same as the one in static equilibrium while the latter is assumed in calculations of the rain fall rate from radar data. Here we present the results of our experiments on raindrop oscillations of freely suspended drops with equivalent diameters of 1 to 7 mm floating inside the Mainz vertical wind tunnel at their terminal velocities. For this purpose a high speed digital video camera was used, which allows the continuous recording of the oscillation of individual raindrops for relatively long time intervals. The comparison of the measured equilibrium raindrop shape with the theoretical model of Beard and Chuang (1987) is presented. We show how the oscillation frequency and the time averaged axis ratio of raindrops depend on the drop size. This latter one is especially of high importance, as it is still an open question whether the dynamic and the static equilibrium axis ratios of raindrops with diameters ranging from 1 to 3 mm differ. Although a few publications dealt with this question (e.g. Andsager et al. 1999), there exists no reliable experimental verification until now on the consideration of Goddard and Cherry (1984) who predicted an enhancement in the axis ratio within this size range. 2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE AS A MEDIATOR ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEAN HEALTHCARE AND SUSTAINABILITY AMONG PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN MALAYSIA USING PLS-SEM

Private healthcare has shown tremendous growth over the past decades, even though the public healthcare in Malaysia still dominated. Thus, Eleventh Malaysia Plan has put a revolutionary effort to transform private healthcare sector by pursuing sustainability as well as to improve regulatory framework and increasing global competitiveness. In order to achieve this, it is suggested to perform the best practices in the context of operational excellence to ensure the robustness of Malaysian economy. Therefore, the study was intended to identify if lean healthcare practices positively impacts sustainability but can be influenced by operational performance, among private hospitals in Malaysia. Hence, a quantitative method was applied and the data was collected through survey questionnaires which were randomly distributed to a sample 118 private hospitals in Malaysia with 45 percent response rate. They were analysed by performing PLS-SEM technique with four hypotheses were supported. Results indicates that lean healthcare practices and operational performance positively improved sustainability, showing that these are the important elements should be considered by practitioners. Likewise, the mediating role of operational performance between lean healthcare practices with sustainability were established. Finally, this paper provides some limitations of study and recommendations for future research.
Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Pentadiplandra brazzeana Powder on Growth Performances, Gut Microbiota and Haemato-Biochemical Indices of Broiler Chickens. World Vet. J., 10 (3): 391-397. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.36380/scil.2020.wvj48;

This study was designed to assess the rearing performances of broiler chickens under two Pentadiplandra brazzeana powder feeding diets. A total of 256 day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups with 4 replicates of 16 birds each in a completely randomized design. This trial involved administrating Pentadiplandra brazzeana powder to broiler chickens via drinking water (2 g/l) or dry feed (2 g/kg) and comparing the result to those obtained from chickens fed on antibiotic (1 g/kg) and chickens fed without additive. The results revealed that the incorporation of Pentadiplandra brazzeana powder in chickens’ diet and drinking water could decrease feed intake, compared to the negative control diet. The inclusion of Pentadiplandra brazzeana powder in water and antibiotic in diet recorded the high live weight and weight gain, compared to the birds fed with the powder in feed and the negative control diet. The low feed conversion ratio was reported with the water supplemented with P. brazzeana powder. The carcass yield was significantly higher with the inclusion of the powder via drinking water, compared to the inclusion via feed and with the control diet. The feeding method did not affect the haematobiochemical parameters, compared to the control diet. Chickens fed with a diet containing Pentadiplandra brazzeana powder in water recorded the highest (p<0.05) lactic acid bacteria count, compared to E. coli and Salmonella. In conclusion, dietary supplementing with Pentadiplandra brazzeana powder through drinking water at a rate of 2 g/l can be used as an alternative to antibiotics to improve the growth performances of broiler chickens.
21st International Research/Expert Conference

Shape memory alloys are smart materials with advantageous technical characteristics and can be used as actuators. Services are more and more a sales argument and can foster to increase the diffusion of technologies. In the case of shape memory actuators most companies focus on technical prop-erties, which often lead to cost pressure. Service is barley considered in todays’ research. This paper made a contribution by systematically analyzing the service potential of shape memory actuators based on existing products and prototypes and evaluated the applicability of industrial services mainly emphasizing the field of mechanical engineering as well as these requirements. By considering services for shape memory actuators companies are able to generate new values for customers, which differentiate them from competition and additionally enables new innovative business models.
Solving the Estonian ID Card Crisis: the Legal Issues

In 2017, Estonia experienced a cyber crisis caused by a vulnerability found in the smart card chips produced by Inﬁneon Technologies AG. Since the a � ected chip was used in the electronic identity card (ID card) issued by the State to more than half of the Estonian population, the vulnerability posed a risk to the resilience of Estonian e-state and thus quickly escalated into a manageable crisis. This work studies to what extent, in such a national emergency, the involved parties were able to precisely follow the applicable laws and regulations in the ﬁeld. We enlist the cases where the requirements were not fully followed, either due to the lack of technical preparedness, suboptimal decisions made under heavy time pressure, or the critical nature of the situation.
Antecedents of Student Loyalty in Open and Distance Learning Institutions: An Empirical Analysis

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between factors leading to student loyalty in open and distance learning universities. Specifically, this research explores the relationship between perceived service quality, perceived e-service quality, and university image as mediators of student loyalty in Open University Malaysia (OUM). Data were collected from 16 OUM learning centres throughout Malaysia. A purposive stratified convenience sampling technique was applied and a sample size of 752 respondents was obtained. The data indicated that perceived service quality has a positive and significant relationship with both university image and student loyalty. Similarly, it was found that perceived e-service quality has a positive significant relationship with both university image and student loyalty. University image acted as a mediator both in the relationship between perceived service quality and student loyalty, and in the relationship between perceived e-service quality and student loyalty.
Ecological restoration of mussel beds onto soft‐sediment using transplanted adults

The success of restoration initiatives to restore bivalve beds relies on sufficient recruitment of larvae to offset mortality of re‐established populations. Individuals of the nearly extirpated green‐lipped mussel are capable of surviving within the current environment of the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand; however, it is uncertain what potential factors might inhibit the establishment and persistence of restored mussel beds. Four experimental mussel beds were established within a shallow soft‐sediment embayment and assessments of population dynamics were conducted approximately every 6 months over a 2‐year period. Deployed mussels quickly congregated into contiguous mussel beds that persisted throughout the study; however, only 26.2% of mussels that were initially established survived until the end of the study. The cause of this overall loss of mussels can be attributed to a near lack of observed recruitment, with only three individual recruiting mussels observed throughout the entire study. Despite similar mortality rates within the restored mussel beds to that of natural populations, these populations will be unsustainable long term given the lack of recruitment. Potential causes of the observed mortality and lack of recruitment are discussed, including environmental factors affecting non‐natal mussel stock and sea star predation. This research provides a foundation for the development of best‐practice methods in the restoration of green‐lipped mussels. However, further investigation into recruitment pathways and sources of mortality for adult mussels will be necessary to overcome the observed limitations if future restoration is to be successful.
Motivational factors and job satisfaction of employees in agriculture in the context of performance of agricultural companies in Slovakia

The aim of our research is to identify how the effectiveness of motivation and job satisfaction of employees contribute to the success of agricultural companies in Slovakia. The research sample consists of 757 employees in agricultural companies in Slovakia. Baron and Kenny’s mediation model and regression ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) were also used. The hypothesis that the dependence of the business performance on the effectiveness of motivation of the employees is mediated by their job satisfaction has been confirmed. An important finding is that the direct relationship between the business performance of agricultural companies and the effectiveness of employee motivation is not significant. However, the variable that transmits this effect, respectively mediates the impact of the effectiveness of employee motivation on business performance, is the job satisfaction of employees. A significant relationship between the effectiveness of motivation was found mainly among financial motivators, which points to the problematic nature of this motivational setting. Significant influencing factors include age, education and job position. As the effectiveness of financial motivation and satisfaction was highest in these groups, it is possible to start applying new trends in employee remuneration to other groups that have not shown such a connection to such a significant extent.
The Role of Activation in the Relationship between Power Posing and Task Performance

This research analyzed the psychophysiological effects that expansive and contractive body poses have on the human body. Participants were asked to hold either an expansive or contractive body pose for two minutes prior to participating in a Color-Word Interference Test (CWT, which induced stress) and a gambling task (which measured risk tolerance). Heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal activity (EDA) for each participant was measured to gauge stress throughout the experiment. Positive and negative affect scales were used to measure mood before and after posing. Results of this research did not support our hypotheses, which were: 1. Expansive, dominant poses would cause an increase in performance on the stressful task, a decrease in both psychological and psychophysiological stress response, and an increase in risk tolerance and 2. Contractive, submissive poses would yield the opposite effect. This research was unable to find a connection between posture, risk tolerance, and feelings of improved mood.
The expansion of sugarcane agroindustry in the central west Brazilian (1975-2017): a historical-economic analysis

The objective of this research was to analyze the expansion of the sugarcane agroindustry in the Center-West region (from 1975 to 2017), with emphasis on historical-economic aspects, highlighting the primary drivers, potentialities, and limits of this agroindustry. The main results indicate that the growth rate of the area harvested, the production of sugarcane, sugar, and ethanol of the region was higher than the national average, resulting in the continuous increase of the importance of this sugarcane agroindustry in the national scenario, supported by favorable conditions for its expansion (such as edaphoclimatic conditions, topography of lands propitious to the use of mechanization, among others), despite the limits indicated in the literature (transport logistics, instability in the ethanol market, and others). The national and international market projections for sugar, ethanol and cogeneration of energy are favorable to the economic consolidation of the sugarcane agroindustry in the Center-West region in the regional and national comparison.