Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An IFC-based database schema for mapping BIM data into a 3D spatially enabled land administration database

ABSTRACT There are different processes in 3D urban land administration in which spatial analysis plays an underpinning role. Among 3D data models, Industry Foundation Class (IFC) provides the potential capabilities for modelling legal and physical dimensions of urban properties. However, performing spatial analysis using IFC files cannot address the on-demand spatial analysis requirements of 3D urban land administration. In response to this limitation, 3D data needs to be stored in a spatial database to enable spatial analyses required by different stakeholders. Therefore, in this paper, by considering spatial analysis requirements in 3D-enabled urban land administration, an IFC-based database schema is designed. Moreover, a methodology for transforming Building Information Modelling (BIM) data into the proposed schema is provided. This methodology includes seven steps: designing the architectural model and adding legal data, georeferencing, IFC data validation and cleaning, mapping process, database data validation and cleaning, spatial analysis, and visualisation. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed database, three datasets are implemented in the database. Moreover, a new method for modelling legal spaces with oblique structures and two applications of spatial analysis in 3D urban land administration are provided.
The anti-cancer effect of betulinic acid in u937 human leukemia cells is mediated through ROS-dependent cell cycle arrest and apoptosis

ABSTRACT Although previous studies have shown anti-cancer activity of betulinic acid (BA), a pentacyclic triterpenoid, against various cancer lines, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well elucidated. In this study, we evaluated the mechanisms involved in the anti-cancer efficacy of BA in U937 human myeloid leukemia cells. BA exerted a significant cytotoxic effect on U937 cells through blocking cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and inducing apoptosis, and that the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels increased after treatment with BA. The down-regulation of cyclin A and cyclin B1, and up-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21WAF1/CIP1 revealed the G2/M phase arrest mechanism of BA. In addition, BA induced the cytosolic release of cytochrome c by reducing the mitochondrial membrane potential with an increasing Bax/Bcl-2 expression ratio. BA also increased the activity of caspase-9 and -3, and subsequent degradation of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. However, quenching of ROS by N-acetyl-cysteine, an ROS scavenger, markedly abolished BA-induced G2/M arrest and apoptosis, indicating that the generation of ROS plays a key role in inhibiting the proliferation of U937 cells by BA treatment. Taken together, our results provide a mechanistic rationale that BA exhibits anti-cancer properties in U937 leukemia cells through ROS-dependent induction of cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and apoptosis.
A study on selective flotation in low and high pyritic copper sulphide ores

ABSTRACT The effect of chemical reagent configurations was investigated on two different copper sulphide ore types, including high and low pyritic feeds. Three different combinations of collectors as isopropyl-n-ethyl thionocarbamate (C-4132), mixture of mercaptobenzothiazole and butyl sodium dithiphosphate (Flomin 7240) and sodium isopropyl xanthate (Z11) were used in flotation experiments. Solely using C-4132 was selected as the best pattern for both feed types with regard to achieving the highest copper grade and the lowest iron recovery. However, the selectivity index (SI) results showed that the combination of Z11+F7240 provides the highest selectivity of chalcopyrite against pyrite in either low or high pyritic ores.
Predictability of Analysts’ Forecast Revision under COVID-19: Evidence from Emerging Markets

ABSTRACT Using stock market data from six emerging economies (that is, China, Brazil, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Russia), we find that analysts’ forecast revision, a significant anomaly in emerging markets during the past two decades, is disappeared during the COVID-19 pandemic. We formulate factor sorted portfolio and Fama–MacBeth regression to explain the disappearance. We find that the return predictability of analysts’ forecast revision is negatively correlated with the pandemic’s severity, whereas analysts have not provided sufficient information to investors under this severe pandemic. We supplement the theory of time-varying risk premium as well as sophisticated investors with fresh evidence.
Influence of ultraviolet absorbers on the ultraviolet-irradiation behaviour of rigid poly vinyl chloride

The effects of ultraviolet absorbers (UVAs) on the UV-irradiation behaviours of rigid PVC were studied through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. In addition, the absorption behaviours of these UVAs in non-polar and polar solvents were characterised and the solution photolysis experiments of these UVAs in ethanol were investigated in the absence and presence of a free radical initiator during the UV irradiation. The results showed that the protection efficiency to photo-degradation of PVC was in the following order: 2,4,6-tri(2-hydroxy-4-butoxylphenyl)-1,3,5-triazine (U3) > 2-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-6-dodecyl-4-methyl phenol (U2) > 2-hydroxy-4-n-octoxy-benzophenone (U1). This protection efficiency was related to the chemical structures of the UVAs, especially the intermolecular hydrogen bond (IMHB). In a polar solution, such as dimethyl sulfoxide, the absorption corresponding to the IMHB of U3 was intact, while that of U1 disappeared. The free radical initiator weakened the intensity of the absorption, accelerating the destruction of the IMHB.
Firm Sustainable Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Customer Concentration

ABSTRACT Due to the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), business environmental uncertainty, a restricted flow of personnel and materials, and changes in consumer demand have impacted business operations and financial performance. This study investigates the relationship between COVID-19, customer concentration, and sustainable growth based on data from listed companies in China. The results reveal that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on sustainable growth, but customer concentration can mitigate this negative association. By emphasizing the moderating effect of customer concentration on the relationship between COVID-19 and sustainable growth, this study provides new insights for firms who are seeking to mitigate the negative shocks of COVID-19 and promote sustainable development.
Correction

ANTHROPOLOGY Correction for “Origins of equine dentistry,” by William Timothy Treal Taylor, Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan, Tumurbaatar Tuvshinjargal, Scott Bender, Monica Tromp, Julia Clark, K. Bryce Lowry, JeanLuc Houle, Dimitri Staszewski, JocelynWhitworth, William Fitzhugh, and Nicole Boivin, which was first published July 2, 2018; 10.1073/ pnas.1721189115 (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115:E6707–E6715). The authors note that the following statement should be added to the Acknowledgments: “We thank Dr. Tserendorj Odbaatar and Dr. Bryan Miller for conducting original excavations at the archaeological sites of Elst-Ar, Airagiin Gozgor, and Takhilt, which represent a major and important contribution to this research. ” The authors also note that a reference was omitted from the article. The complete reference appears below. A citation to this reference should be included on page E6711, right column, first full paragraph, line 5, following “Mongolia. ”
Transcriptomic Profiling of Human Placenta in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus at the Single-Cell Level

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Increasing evidence shows that placentation defects may play important roles in GDM. However, our understanding of the human placenta remains limited. In this study, we generated a comprehensive transcriptomic profile of cellular signatures and transcriptomes in the human placenta in GDM using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), constructed a comprehensive cell atlas, and identified cell subtypes and subtype-specific marker genes. In addition, we investigated the placental cellular function and intercellular interactions in GDM. These findings help to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of GDM, and may facilitate the development of new approaches to GDM treatment and prevention.
Network capability, relational capability and Indonesian manufacturing SME performance: an empirical analysis of the mediating role of product innovation

Abstract The relational capability can create networks and build relationships to be an essential part of a company to improve business performance. This study aims to empirically prove the influence of knowledge sharing on product innovation, the effect of network capability on product innovation and business performance, the effect of relational ability on product innovation and business performance, and the effect of product innovation on business performance. The sample of this research was created from owners of batik manufacturing SMEs in Lasem, Rembang, Central Java. The study used SEM-PLS for analysis. The results found that (1) knowledge sharing had a positive and significant effect on product innovation; (2) network capability had a positive and significant impact on product innovation and business performance; (3) relational ability had a positive and significant effect on product innovation and business performance; (4) greater effect of product innovation affects business performance. The role of product innovation is to mediate between knowledge sharing and marketing performance. SMEs can improve business performance.
“Good Enough!”: Flexible Goal Achievement with Margin-based Outcome Evaluation

Traditional goal setting simply assumes a binary outcome for goal evaluation. This binary judgment does not consider a user’s effort, which may demotivate the user. This work explores the possibility of mitigating this negative impact with a slight modification on the goal evaluation criterion, by introducing a ‘margin’ that is widely used for quality control in the manufacturing fields. A margin represents a range near the goal where the user’s outcome will be regarded as ‘good enough’ even if the user fails to reach it. We explore users’ perceptions and behaviors through a large-scale survey study and a small-scale field experiment using a coaching system to promote physical activity. Our results provide positive evidence on the margin, such as lowering the burden of goal achievement and increasing motivation to make attempts. We discuss practical design implications on margin-enabled goal setting and evaluation for behavioral change support systems.
Nudge for Reflection: More Than Just a Channel to Political Knowledge

Reflection, a process that organizes information into a structure that incorporates both own and others’ perspectives, was previously believed to function mainly as an antecedent of political knowledge. In this paper, we first design a simple interface nudge to encourage users to reflect on their views on political issues. Second, we use an experimental study to show that reflection works in a way more than leading to political knowledge. Results from a between-subjects online experiment (N = 168) covering one crucial public issue in Singapore (i.e., fertility) showed that (a) reflection interacts with information access to influence perceived issue knowledge; (b) reflection enhances perceived attitude certainty, including perceived attitude clarity and perceived attitude correctness; (c) reflection promotes willingness to express opinions in private settings.
Serious Snacking: A Survival Analysis of how Snacking Mechanics Affect Attrition in a Mobile Serious Game

Many serious games are most effective when played regularly; however, little is known about how individual game elements support player adherence over time. This work draws on evidence from existing frameworks and game design theories as well as from the design of casual games to investigate how individual game mechanics affect player attrition in a serious game. We implemented a math-learning game in which we could individually layer various game mechanics, and over the course of 3 weeks, 99 participants played one of six versions: Baseline, Rewards, Novelty, Completion, Waiting, or Blocking. We compared the game versions by analyzing the players’ performance as well as behaviour. Using survival analysis, we identified that the addition of Completion and Blocking mechanics facilitated the strongest sustained engagement. These findings are congruent with existing theories of player experience and promote the development of guidelines on designing for sustained engagement in serious games.
Understanding the Design and Effectiveness of Peripheral Breathing Guide Use During Information Work

Peripheral breathing guides – tools designed to influence breathing while completing another primary task – have been proposed to provide physiological benefits during information work. While research has shown that guides can influence breathing rates under ideal conditions, there is little evidence that they can lead to underlying markers of physiological benefit under interrupted work conditions. Further, even if guides are effective during work tasks, it is unclear how personal and workplace factors affect peoples' willingness to adopt them for everyday use. In this paper, we present the results of a comparative, mixed-methods study of five different peripheral breathing guides. Our findings show that peripheral breathing guides are viable and can provide physiological markers of benefit during interrupted work. Further, we show that guides are effective – even when use is intermittent due to workplace distractions. Finally, we contribute guidelines to support the design of breathing guides for everyday information work.
An Examination of the Work Practices of Crowdfarms

Crowdsourcing is a new value creation business model. Annual revenue of the Chinese market alone is hundreds of millions of dollars, yet few studies have focused on the practices of the Chinese crowdsourcing workforce, and those that do mainly focus on solo crowdworkers. We have extended our study of solo crowdworker practices to include crowdfarms, a relatively new entry to the gig economy: small companies that carry out crowdwork as a key part of their business. We report here on interviews of people who work in 53 crowdfarms. We describe how crowdfarms procure jobs, carry out macrotasks and microtasks, manage their reputation, and employ different management practices to motivate crowdworkers and customers.
RubySlippers: Supporting Content-based Voice Navigation for How-to Videos

Directly manipulating the timeline, such as scrubbing for thumbnails, is the standard way of controlling how-to videos. However, when how-to videos involve physical activities, people inconveniently alternate between controlling the video and performing the tasks. Adopting a voice user interface allows people to control the video with voice while performing the tasks with hands. However, naively translating timeline manipulation into voice user interfaces (VUI) results in temporal referencing (e.g. “rewind 20 seconds”), which requires a different mental model for navigation and thereby limiting users’ ability to peek into the content. We present RubySlippers, a system that supports efficient content-based voice navigation through keyword-based queries. Our computational pipeline automatically detects referenceable elements in the video, and finds the video segmentation that minimizes the number of needed navigational commands. Our evaluation (N=12) shows that participants could perform three representative navigation tasks with fewer commands and less frustration using RubySlippers than the conventional voice-enabled video interface.
Fragments of the Past: Curating Peer Support with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence

There is growing evidence that digital peer-support networks can have a positive influence on behaviour change and wellbeing outcomes for people who harm themselves and others. However, making and sustaining such networks are subject to ethical and pragmatic challenges, particularly for perpetrators of domestic violence whom pose unique risks when brought together. In this work we report on a ten-month study where we worked with six support workers and eighteen perpetrators in the design and deployment of Fragments of the Past; a socio-material system that connects audio messages with tangible artefacts. We share how crafting digitally-augmented artefacts - ‘fragments’ - of experiences of desisting from violence can translate messages for motivation and rapport between peers, without subjecting the process to risks inherent with direct inter-personal communication. These insights provide the basis for practical considerations for future network design with challenging populations.
Community Supported Agriculture: The Concept of Solidarity in Mitigating Between Harvests and Needs

There is a developing recognition of the social and economic costs entailed in global supply chains. In this paper, we report on efforts to provide alternative, more sustainable and resilient models of production. Community Supported Agricultures (CSAs) address this problem but require new means of exchange which, we suggest, offer a design opportunity for sustainable HCI research. This paper presents a two months participatory observation in a food movement, a German CSA which developed a distribution system involving their own currency. Based on our ethnographic observations, we focus our discussion on (1) the solidaristic principles upon which the movement is based and (2) techniques of mediating between consumers’ wishes and the constraints of local agricultural production. By relating to the continued development of CSAs, we identify three interrelated innovation gaps and discuss new software architectures aimed at resolving the problems which arise as the movement grows.
Neighbourhood Wattch: Using Speculative Design to Explore Values Around Curtailment and Consent in Household Energy Interactions

Smart energy technologies provide new opportunities for network demand management, while generating data that can provide inference into household activities and which is increasingly valuable for user profiling and targeted marketing. This paper explores the human values implicated by smart energy technologies as energy consumption emerges as a potentially sensitive and attributable data trail. Using a values-based approach involving semi-structured interviews with 39 Australians, we use speculative design to engage participants with the implications of high frequency household energy data and understand users’ values and attitudes towards curtailment, surveillance, accountability and consent. The principal contributions are (1) a nuanced understanding of user values around privacy, responsibility, trust, collectivism and curtailment in relation to interpersonal household energy use data and considerations for speculative designs in this space, and (2) reflections on the design of mechanisms for consumer participation in demand response for energy networks.
User Experience for Multi-Device Ecosystems: Challenges and Opportunities

Smart devices have pervaded every aspect of humans’ daily lives. Though single device UX products are relatively successful, the experience of cross-device interaction is still far from satisfactory and can be a source of frustration. Inconsistent UI styles, unclear coordination, varying fidelity, pairwise interactions, lack of understanding intent, limited data sharing and security, and other problems typically degrade the experience in a multi-device ecosystem. Redesigning the UX, tailored to multi-device ecosystems to enhance the user experience, turns out to be challenging but at the same time affording many new opportunities. This workshop brings together researchers, practitioners and developers with different backgrounds, including from fields such as computationally design, affective computing, and multimodal interaction to exchange views, share ideas, and explore future directions on UX for distributed scenarios, especially for those heterogeneous cross-device ecosystems. The topics cover but are not limited to distributed UX design, accessibility, cross-device HCI, human factors in distributed scenarios, user-centric interfaces, and multi-device ecosystems.
Developing the Proactive Speaker Prototype Based on Google Home

Smart speakers and conversational interfaces increasingly make it into consumer’s homes. Listening to users’ commands assigns them a rather passive role. Proactive speakers, on the other hand, have the potential to empower a broad range of applications such as context-aware health interventions and self-tracking systems. To achieve proactivity, however, requires the speaker to become context-aware and be able to detect opportune moments to initiate interactions. In this work, we present a proactive speaker prototype based on Google Home to investigate interaction contexts. We, additionally, built a voice-based Experience Sampling Method (ESM) application to study contextual factors that are correlated to opportune moments for device-triggered interactions. Preliminary results from a three-week field study with 7 participants indicate the proposed prototype is a robust way to achieve proactivity and implement voice-based ESM. We present use cases for future research and applications for proactive smart speakers in the context of digital health.
The Show Must Go On:: A Conceptual Model of Conducting Synchronous Participatory Design With Children Online

Co-designing with children in an online environment is increasingly important due to external factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the diversification and inclusion of youth participants. Many prior studies about co-design with youth focus on co-located or asynchronous online sessions. However, conducting synchronous online co-design sessions adds layers of complexity and uncertainty to collaboration. This paper introduces a model explicating factors to consider when co-designing with children synchronously in an online space. We examined ten consecutive intergenerational participatory design sessions online where children (ages 7-11) and adults designed new technologies. Along with highlighting unexpected moments and interactions, we use theories of improvisation to guide our understanding of dynamic situations that are out of the control of researchers. This work contributes to improving theoretical understanding of improvisation as a method of inquiry for co-designing with youth, and offers practical suggestions for suitable online co-design techniques and implementation.