Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The greenhouse gas and carbon profile of the global forest products industry.

In this paper, widely accepted calculation methods and readily available data sets are used to characterize the forest products industry's global carbon and greenhouse gas profile. The result is useful in understanding the industry's current contributions to atmospheric greenhouse gases. The global forest products industry's carbon and greenhouse gas profile is composed of emissions, sequestration, and avoided emissions. Emissions associated with forest products industry activities and products include emissions from manufacturing, as well as emissions associated with electricity purchases, transport, and releases of methane from discarded forest products in landfills. Carbon is sequestered in forests used to supply fiber to the industry and in forest products. Because the stocks of carbon in sustainably managed forests, averaged over time and area, are relatively stable, net sequestration is determined primarily by the fate of carbon transferred into products. The estimates developed in this study indicate that the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the activities and products of the global forest products industry are largely offset by sequestration, primarily attributable to increasing stocks of carbon in forest products. Avoided emissions, which represent other important connections between the industry and the global carbon cycle, are associated with the industry's use of biomass fuels, combined heat and power systems, recycling, and product substitution effects.
The Association between Work-Related Physical Activity and Depression

Working long hours is often said to be associated with depression. Research has also shown that physical activity is a remedy for depression. If this is the case, work involving an adequate level of physical activity may reduce depression. This study therefore examines the association between work-related physical activity and depression. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was applied. Three groups of workers having varied physical activity levels were compared. Each group had 218 volunteer participants. Analysis of Variance and a linear contrasts test were used to present results. Data analysis shows that sedentary jobs have the highest level of depression (Mean = 26.03, SD = 10.24, 95%CI = 25.26-27.80). Partially sedentary jobs produce a depression level higher than SEDJOB but lower than PHYJOB (Mean = 15.867, SD = 7.49, 95%CI = 14.9, 16.9). Physical jobs produce the lowest level of depression (Mean = 11.119, SD = 6.26, 95%CI = 10.3, 12.0). The study thus finds a statistically significant negative association between work-related physical activity and depression at 1% significance level. Thus, depression decreases with increased work-related physical activity. It may therefore be necessary for organizations to implement systems that encourage workers to regularly engage in work-related physical activity. They may have to create recreation centers (e.g. Gyms) where workers can exercise after hours of work in sedentary conditions.
Comparison on Modelling the Relative Risk Estimation: Bayesian Study

The estimation of the disease incidents was previously analyzed using a classical approach. However, this approach features large outlying relative risks and considered as misleading due to several major problems. Some approaches such as the hierarchical Bayesian method have been adopted in the literature in order to overcome these problems. The purpose of this study is to compare between hierarchical Bayesian models that improve the relative risk estimation. The focus lies on examining the performance of different sets of densities via monitoring the history graphs, estimating the potential scale reduction factors and conducting sensitivity analysis for different choice of prior information. The best model fit is accomplished by conducting a goodness of fit test. The study is applied on Scotland lip cancer data set. The results show that for models with large number of parameters, more iteration is needed to achieve the convergence. The study also shows that diagnostic test and sensitivity analysis are important to decide about the stability and the the influence of the choice of the prior densities. The DIC results were in line with the previous results and provide a good method of comparison.
Municipal Law Enforcement Policy on Illegal Immigration Stops: Do Social Factors Determine How Aggressively Local Police Respond to Unauthorized Immigrants?

The devolution of immigration law has increased local police involvement in the enforcement of federal immigration law. But only some departments have responded by implementing policies that restrict their officers' involvement in order to protect residents from overzealous policing. We test theories of economic and ethnic threat to explore the structural characteristics of cities that explain this variation. Multiple regression results show that the most unequal cities that have large Hispanic populations are less likely to have a policy. Hispanic white segregation and high unemployment also reduce the likelihood of policy implementation. We discuss theoretical and policy implications.
Vector-Based Sensitive Information Protecting Scheme in Automatic Trust Negotiation

The existing sensitive information protecting schemes can not satisfy the actual security requirement of some applications. A vector based sensitive information protect scheme is presented based on the existing schemes. One side in trust negotiation can selectively exposes the sensitive attributes to the other side in trust negotiation process based on personal security policy and the trust evaluation result of the other. The implementation process is given in concrete application instances and the scheme is analyzed.
In Vivo Analgesic and Antipyretic Activities of N-Butanol and Water Fractions of Ocimum Suave Aqueous Leaves Extract in Mice

Background Ocimum suave willd is one of the plants traditionally used for the treatment of inflammation and related disorders in different parts of Ethiopia. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the analgesic and antipyretic activities of the solvent fractions (n-butanol and water) of O. suave aqueous leaves extract. Materials and Methods Acetic acid writhing and tail flick tests were used to evaluate the analgesic activity, and yeast-induced fever in mice was used to evaluate the antipyretic activity of the solvent fractions. Results Both solvent fractions exhibited inhibitory effect against acetic acid induced writhing at all tested dose levels in a dose dependent manner. The water fraction inhibited writhing by 47.69% at a dose of 200 mg/kg which was comparable to that by ASA, the standard drug. In the tail flick test, 200 mg/kg dose of both solvent fractions showed significant activity (P<0.05) after 0.5h, 1h and 3hrs of their administration. Both n- butanol and water fractions produced significant reduction in yeast induced fever at all doses employed. Conclusion From these findings, it can be concluded that the n-butanol and water fractions of O. suave aqueous leaves extract have potential analgesic and antipyretic activity in mice.
Gender as a moderator of the association between teacher–child relationship and social skills in preschool

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine whether gender would moderate the association between teacher–child relationship and children’s social skills in a sample of preschool children. Classroom teachers (N = 32) rated the quality of the teacher–child relationship (Student–Teacher Relationship Scale; STRS) and children’s social skills (Social Skills Rating System; SSRS) in a sample of 160 preschool children in Oman. Children’s ages ranged from 46 to 70 months with an average of 58 months (SD = 6 months). The hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis showed that the subscales (STRS) and the total score explained 21% of the variance in social skills. Gender was also a significant predictor of children’s social skills. Females’ close relationship with teachers predicted social skills better than males. Positive correlations were found between teacher–child conflict and both internalizing and externalizing behaviours, and between closeness and SSRS cooperation and self-control. Teacher–child dependence correlated negatively with both cooperation and SSRS total score. An independent-samples t-test showed that girls displayed higher scores than males in SSRS cooperation assertion, SSRS total score, and STRS closeness. Results inform policy-makers and practitioners about the gender disparity issue and the importance of developing positive and healthy teacher–child relationships in preschool.
Miniscrews for orthodontic anchorage: nanoscale chemical surface analyses.

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to determine the chemical composition of the passivation layer of three clinically available orthodontic miniscrews at different depths. MATERIALS AND METHODS The miniscrews used were Aarhus Mini-Implant (AAR), IMTEC Ortho (IMT), and VectorTAS (VEC). The chemical compositions of the as-received miniscrews were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Data was acquired before etching the miniscrews with argon, as well as after etching at depths of 10 nm, 20 nm, 30 nm, and 80 nm. RESULTS The elements found in all miniscrews were mainly C, O, and Ti. Also found were other metals in small amounts, and other trace elements. All three miniscrews showed very different characteristics in surface composition. IMT had the greatest increase in Ti, as well as the most titanium metal at 80 nm. VEC remained stable at all tested depths and contained no titanium metal at 80 nm. AAR was an intermediate between the two. CONCLUSIONS The passivation layer of the orthodontic miniscrews has different compositions depending on the brand, as well as the depth analyzed. VEC appeared to have the largest passivation layer, and IMT appeared to have the thinnest passivation layer.
The Adoption of Tablet Based e-Textbooks in a South African Private School

The research reported in this paper aims to obtain a better understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of tablet-based e-textbooks by focusing on a pilot project in which e-textbooks loaded onto tablets was used to supplement formal classroom learning in a South African private school. The research adopts Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as the theoretical framework of analysis and interpretative case study research as a research method. Several factors were identified that may have influenced the adoption of e-textbooks in the aforementioned environment (activity system) including tablet robustness, infrastructure, features afforded by the tablets and the e-books, user age, training and knowledge sharing, and expectation management. Factors that may have to be considered for tablet-based e-textbooks to be implemented at a disadvantaged school in South Africa are discussed – the availability of electricity, security and student safety, infrastructure, and teacher skills. It is recognised that e-textbook technology might contribute towards addressing the skills shortage in the South African educational environment.
Mathematically Modeling the Mass-Effect of Invasive Brain Tumors

When developing an accurate model of the development of glioblastomas multiforme, it is important to account not only for the invasion and diffusion of tumor cells into healthy tissue but also the resulting mass effect and brain tissue deformation. This motivates the model presented here, which implements the finite element method to solve a boundary value problem defined through classical continuum mechanics. Intended to improve existing models of tumor invasion, this model predicts the mass-effect of an invading tumor in heterogeneous brain tissue. Several parameters, taken from existing literature, dictate the behavior of differing types of brain matter. The model operates on a two-dimensional (2D) domain and outputs the displacement of brain tissue as a result of the pressure surrounding and within the tumor (peri-tumor pressure). ∗taylor.hines@asu.edu The author would like to thank Professor Eric Kostelich for his help and support throughout this project. 135 Copyright © SIAM Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited
Speech enhancement for mobile telephony based on non-uniformly spaced frequency resolution

In this paper, we present a speech enhancement method based on spectral subtraction in non-uniformly spaced sub-bands. The main advantage of using different frequency resolutions for the various bands is the perception property of the human ear, which is able to separate low frequencies more precisely than high frequencies. The parameters of the noise reduction algorithm are chosen appropriately to the respective signal to noise ratio, which yields a performance superior to an uniform frequency resolution with the same number of sub-bands. A two-stage cascaded filter-bank is used for the decomposition of the signal.
Generalisations over Corpus-induced Frame Assignment Rules

In this paper we discuss motivations and strategies for generalising over instance-based frame assignment rules that we extract from frame-annotated corpora. Corpus-induced syntax-semantics mapping rules for frame assignment can be used for automatic semantic role labelling of unparsed text, but further, to extract linguistic knowledge for a lexical semantic resource with a general syntax-semantics interface. We provide a data analysis of a comprehensive rule set of corpus-induced frame assignment rules, and discuss the potential of applying different types of generalisations and filters, to obtain a uniform extended data set for the extraction of linguistic knowledge.
Liftago On-Demand Transport Dataset and Market Formation Algorithm Based on Machine Learning

This document serves as a technical report for the analysis of on-demand transport dataset. Moreover we show how the dataset can be used to develop a market formation algorithm based on machine learning. Data used in this work comes from Liftago, a Prague based company which connects taxi drivers and customers through a smartphone app. The dataset is analysed from the machine-learning perspective: we give an overview of features available as well as results of feature ranking. Later we propose the SImple Data-driven MArket Formation (SIDMAF) algorithm which aims to improve a relevance while connecting customers with relevant drivers. We compare the heuristics currently used by Liftago with SIDMAF using two key performance indicators.
The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Service Performance of Taiwanese Hotel Industry — Organiatinal Commitment as a Mediator

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and service performance and the process through which these HRM practices affect service performance that is one of major organizational outcomes of hotels. The hypothesized model with organizational commitment has been considered as a mediator between employee perceptions of HRM practices and service performance. Using a sample of thirty hotels with four or five stars rank international hotels, the author examine the impact of HRM practices on service performance mediated by organizational commitment. The result of this study can provide human resource professionals with useful information to decide what human resource practices should be effectively implemented in their organizations. The study will further testify the relationship among them, and provide useful information for future hotel management needs. For the management level, it can formulate strategies and identify the factors to guide administrators in policymaking, and also provide employees a path that maximizes their service performance. Therefore, it is crucial to work out in more detail on the black box between the HRM practices of the hotel industry and their service performance.
Decreased Glomerular Filtration Rate Is Associated with Mortality and Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Hypertension: A Prospective Study

Background Few studies reported the associations between decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and mortality, coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke in hypertensive patients. We aim to assess the associations between GFR and mortality, CHD, and stroke in hypertensive patients and to evaluate whether low GFR can improve the prediction of these outcomes in addition to conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Methods and Findings This is an observational prospective study and 3,711 eligible hypertensive patients aged ≥5 years from rural areas of China were used for the present analysis. The associations between eGFR and outcomes, followed by a median of 4.9 years, were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for other potential confounders. Low eGFR was independently associated with risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and incident stroke [multivariable adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for eGFR <60 ml/min/1.73 m2 relative to eGFR ≥90 ml/min/1.73 m2 were 1.824 (1.047–3.365), 2.371 (1.109–5.068), and 2.493 (1.193–5.212), respectively]. We found no independent association between eGFR and the risk of CHD. For 4-year all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) was positive when eGFR were added to traditional risk factors (1.51%, P = 0.016, and 1.99%, P = 0.017, respectively). For stroke and CHD events, net reclassification improvements (NRI) were 5.9% (P = 0.012) and 1.8% (P = 0.083) for eGFR, respectively. Conclusions We have established an inversely independent association between eGFR and all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and stroke in hypertensive patients in rural areas of China. Further, addition of eGFR significantly improved the prediction of 4-year mortality and stroke over and above that of conventional risk factors. We recommend that eGFR be incorporated into prognostic assessment for patients with hypertension in rural areas of China. Limitations We did not have sufficient information on atrial fibrillation to control for the potential covariate. These associations should be further confirmed in future.
Using OpenCard in Combination with the Java Cryptographic Architecture for Digital Signing

This paper shows a solution of how to use OpenCard in combination with the Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA) for digital signing. The presented solution enables Java applications to create digital signatures directly on cryptographic smart cards; to access the signing mechanism of the smart card, this solution integrates OpenCard into the JCA. Compared to other approaches that integrate smart cards in Java, the presented approach does not require detailed knowledge of smart card internals. Rather it is enough for the developer of a Java application to know about the JCA, which is not a big constraint, since most of the currently available Java applications that use digital signing in software are based on the JCA. Hence, an existing application that can sign data by the means of a pure software implementation of the signature algorithm can be improved easily to create the signatures directly on a smart card. This makes the transition to smart card technology for the purpose of digital signatures easy and inexpensive. Companies can extend their Java applications that already sign in software easily, for instance email clients, to exploit the very high security level of smart cards. Digital signature laws require such a high security level for the signature creation device, which can be achieved best by modern cryptographic smart cards.
Reduced-Order Modeling of Channel Flow Using Traveling POD and Balanced POD

Reduced-order models of the flow in a plane channel flow are constructed in two regimes: a minimal flow unit in which turbulence is sustained, and a transitional flow linearized about the laminar profile. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of data from a direct numerical simulation of a channel flow in a minimal flow unit is performed in order to examine the coherent structures and their dynamical interactions. Empirical basis functions are obtained both using Fourier modes in the streamwise and spanwise directions, with POD modes in the wall-normal direction, and using 3D (non-Fourier) POD modes that can translate in the streamwise direction (traveling modes). Traveling modes capture more energy than standard Fourier-POD for the same number of modes. In addition, models of a channel flow linearized about a laminar profile are constructed using both POD and balanced POD, an approximation to balanced truncation that is tractable for very large systems. Balanced POD models significantly outperform standard POD, especially at including the eects of actuation.
Meningkatkan kebahagiaan lansia di panti wreda melalui psikoterapi positif dalam kelompok

Peningkatan jumlah lansia yang tinggal di Panti Wreda mencerminkan bahwa banyak lansia yang terlantar dan tidak terurus oleh keluarganya sehingga mengalami permasalahan emosional akibat dari perasaan kesendirian, kesepian dan tersisihkan dari keluarga yang dapat berpengaruh pada menurunnya kebahagiaan mereka. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah meningkatkan kebahagiaan lansia di Panti Wreda melalui Psikoterapi Positif dalam Kelompok. Metode pengumpulan data menggunakan Authentic Happiness Scale untuk mengukur kebahagian lansia. Teknik yang digunakan dalam terapi ini adalah berbagi pengalaman, menuliskan surat dan jurnal harian kebersyukuran serta menikmati kehidupan. Pendekatan penelitian yang digunakan adalah eksperimen dan melibatkan 20 peserta yang terbagi menjadi dua kelompok yaitu, kelompok eksperimen dan kelompok kontrol dengan random assigment. Hasil penelitian menggambarkan bahwa psikoterapi positif dalam kelompok dapat meningkatkan kebahagiaan lansia yang tinggal di Panti Wreda.
Modeling, control, and design of input-series-output-parallel-connected converter for high-speed-train power system

In this paper, a charge control with an input voltage feedforward is proposed for an input-series-output-parallel-connected converter configuration for the high-speed-train power system application. This control scheme accomplishes the output current sharing. For the output-parallel-connected modules as well as the input voltage sharing for the input-series-connected modules for all operating conditions including the transients. It also offers the robustness for the input voltage sharing control according to the component value mismatches among the modules. This configuration enables the usage of a MOSFET for a high-voltage system allowing a higher switching frequency for a lighter system weight and smaller size. The performance of the proposed scheme is verified through the experimental results.
Quality of Experience Management for YouTube: Clouds, FoG and the AquareYoum

Over the last decade, Quality of Experience (QoE) has become a new, central paradigm for understanding the quality of networks and services. In particular, the concept has attracted the interest of communication network and service providers, since being able to guarantee good QoE to customers provides an opportunity for differentiation. In this paper we investigate the potential as well as the implementation challenges of QoE management in the Internet. Using YouTube video streaming service as example, we discuss the different elements that are required for the realization of the paradigm-shift towards truly user-centric network orchestration. To this end, we elaborate QoE management requirements for two complementary network scenarios (wireless mesh Internet access networks vs. global Internet delivery) and provide a QoE model for YouTube taking into account impairments like stalling and initial delay. We present two YouTube QoE monitoring approaches operating on the network and the end user level. Finally, we demonstrate how QoE can be dynamically optimized in both network scenarios with two exemplary concepts, AquareYoum and FoG, respectively. Our results show how QoE management can truly improve the user experience while at the same time increase the efficiency of network resource allocation.