Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Competence Measurement in Non-Formal Educational Settings

This research comes to measure the level of knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and values of educators on global competence. The quantitative methodology was followed and the questionnaire tool was selected. Random sampling technique was used, and the questionnaire was delivered through google forms. The sample consisted of 310 educators who taught in public and private Vocational Training Institutes in the region of Western Greece during 2021-2022. Research findings show that the average value for global knowledge is 3,69 (a lot), for understanding globalization 4,10 (a lot) and for international academic knowledge 3,91 (a lot). Regarding participants' answers for the Skills sub-factors, the average value for the use of tools is 4, 27 (a lot), for the cross-cultural communication 4,03 (a lot) and for the international academic knowledge 3,29 (enough). Regarding the factors of Attitude and values, the average value for intent to interact is 3, 95 (a lot), for open attitude 4,46 (a lot) and for the values 3,94 (a lot). In addition, the control of the Pearson correlation coefficient of the nine factors for global capability shows a statistically significant positive correlation between them. Finally, gender, additional studies, employment relationship and years of service seem to affect the results of the scale.
Environmental Responsibility, Social Responsibility, and Governance from the Perspective of Auditors

This study examined the relationship between ESGs and the audit hours of 3010 Korean stock-listed firms from 2014 to 2019. The Korean Corporate Governance Service assigns ratings to each firm based on ESG performance. We discover that auditors exert more effort auditing companies that prioritize ESGs. Additionally, we evaluated whether the CEO’s competency level influences the relationship between ESGs and the total amount of time spent auditing the company. We observed that auditors spend less time auditing companies with highly competent CEOs. We disaggregated the total number of audit hours by rank and verified each audit hour completed by partners, CPAs, as well as staff. Based on our research, we conclude that a firm’s ESG increases audit complexity, and increases the amount of effort exerted in the auditing process.
Deep Learning Assessment for Mining Important Medical Image Features of Various Modalities

Deep learning (DL) is a well-established pipeline for feature extraction in medical and nonmedical imaging tasks, such as object detection, segmentation, and classification. However, DL faces the issue of explainability, which prohibits reliable utilisation in everyday clinical practice. This study evaluates DL methods for their efficiency in revealing and suggesting potential image biomarkers. Eleven biomedical image datasets of various modalities are utilised, including SPECT, CT, photographs, microscopy, and X-ray. Seven state-of-the-art CNNs are employed and tuned to perform image classification in tasks. The main conclusion of the research is that DL reveals potential biomarkers in several cases, especially when the models are trained from scratch in domains where low-level features such as shapes and edges are not enough to make decisions. Furthermore, in some cases, device acquisition variations slightly affect the performance of DL models.
Joint User-Slice Pairing and Association Framework Based on H-NOMA in RAN Slicing

Multiservice cellular in Radio Access Network (RAN) Slicing has recently attained huge interest in enhancing isolation and flexibility. However, RAN slicing in heterogeneous networks (HetNet) architecture is not adequately explored. This study proposes a pairing-network slicing (NS) approach for Multiservice RAN that cares about quality of service (QoS), baseband resources, capacities of wireless fronthaul and backhaul links, and isolation. This intriguing approach helps address the increased need for mobile network traffic produced by a range of devices with various QoS requirements, including improved dependability, ultra-reliability low-latency communications (uRLLC), and enhanced broadband Mobile Services (eMBB). Our study displays a unique RAN slicing framework for user equipment (UE) for joint user-association. Multicell non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based resource allocation across 5G HetNet under successive interference cancelation (SIC) is seen to achieve the best performance. Joint user-slice pairing and association are optimization problems to maximize eMBB UE data rates while fulfilling uRLLC latency and reliability criteria. This is accomplished by guaranteeing the inter- and intra-isolation property of slicing to eliminate interferences between eMBB and uRLLC slices. We presented the UE-slice association (U-S. A) algorithm as a one-to-many matching game to create a stable connection between UE and one of the base stations (BSs). Next, we use the UE-slice pairing (U-S. P) algorithm to find stable uRLLC-eMBB pairs that coexist on the same spectrum. Numerical findings and performance analyses of the submitted association and pairing technique show they can all be RAN slicing criteria. We prove that the proposed algorithm optimizes system throughput while decreasing uRLLC latency by associating and pairing every uRLLC user in mini slots.
IMPACT OF BARYONIC PROCESSES ON WEAK-LENSING COSMOLOGY: POWER SPECTRUM, NONLOCAL STATISTICS, AND PARAMETER BIAS

We study the impact of baryonic physics on cosmological parameter estimation with weak-lensing surveys. We run a set of cosmological hydrodynamics simulations with different galaxy formation models. We then perform ray-tracing simulations through the total matter density field to generate 100 independent convergence maps with a field of view of 25 deg 2 ? > , and we use them to examine the ability of the following three lensing statistics as cosmological probes: power spectrum (PS), peak counts, and Minkowski functionals (MFs). For the upcoming wide-field observations, such as the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey with a sky coverage of 1400 deg 2 ? > , these three statistics provide tight constraints on the matter density, density fluctuation amplitude, and dark energy equation of state, but parameter bias is induced by baryonic processes such as gas cooling and stellar feedback. When we use PS, peak counts, and MFs, the magnitude of relative bias in the dark energy equation of state parameter w is at a level of, respectively, δ w ∼ 0.017 ? > , 0.061, and 0.0011. For the HSC survey, these values are smaller than the statistical errors estimated from Fisher analysis. The bias could be significant when the statistical errors become small in future observations with a much larger survey area. We find that the bias is induced in different directions in the parameter space depending on the statistics employed. While the two-point statistic, i.e., PS, yields robust results against baryonic effects, the overall constraining power is weak compared with peak counts and MFs. On the other hand, using one of peak counts or MFs, or combined analysis with multiple statistics, results in a biased parameter estimate. The bias can be as large as 1σ for the HSC survey and will be more significant for upcoming wider-area surveys. We suggest to use an optimized combination so that the baryonic effects on parameter estimation are mitigated. Such a “calibrated” combination can place stringent and robust constraints on cosmological parameters.
Characterization of TiO2 thin films in the EUV and soft X-ray region

In this work, three TiO2 thin films with thicknesses of 22.7, 48.5 and 102.9 nm were grown on Si (100) substrates by the technique of electron beam evaporation. The films were deposited at a substrate temperature of 150°C with a deposition rate of 0.3 - 0.5 A/sec. The films thicknesses were characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry and profilometry. The surface roughness was measured by AFM obtaining RMS of less than 0.7nm. Investigations performed by XPS method have shown that stoichiometric TiO2 was obtained on all the samples with no suboxide presences. Reflectance measurements of the samples were performed in EUV and SX spectral regions from 25.5 to 454.2eV using synchrotron radiation. Analyzing the refractive index N=n+ik of TiO2 thin films, optical constants (n,k) in this energy range were both determined by fitting the Fresnel equations with least-square fitting methods.
Numerical methods in scientific computing

List of figures List of tables List of conventions Preface 1. Principles of numerical calculations 2. How to obtain and estimate accuracy 3. Series, operators and continued fractions 4. Interpolation and approximation 5. Numerical integration 6. Solving scalar nonlinear equations Bibliography Index Online appendix A. Introduction to matrix computations Online appendix B. A MATLAB multiple precision package Online appendix C. Guide to literature.
The analysis of annual and seasonal surface air temperature trends of southern and southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1961 to 2017

In some areas of the world, regional climate change is in good agreement with global climate change. This study brings new information about what defines climate change in the contact area of Adriatic Sea and Southeastern Europe, and conclusions are based on trend analysis of annual and seasonal temperatures in the southern and southeastern parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Trend analysis was applied on mean annual surface air temperatures, mean maximum temperatures, and mean minimum temperatures of all four seasons. This study used 4 meteorological stations: Livno, Bileća, Mostar, and Ivan Sedlo for 56 years. The main statistical method is the Mann-Kendall test. The total number of analysis is 48. A statistically significant positive trend was determined in 36 analysis, while in the rest of the tests this was not the case. The highest amount of temperature increase is present in the mean maximum summer air temperatures in Livno and Ivan Sedlo. Mean minimum autumn air temperatures had the smallest increase. Negative trend is present in the mean autumn surface air temperatures and mean maximum autumn temperatures. Using a geographical information system resulted in visualizing regional differences in the spatial distribution of isotherms. The study area has combined the influence of orography and maritime effects of the Adriatic Sea. Having in mind these results, the growing temperature has been recognized as a problem which needs more attention in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately, official documents which propose economic adaptation on climate change in this country are not at a satisfactory level.
The Sponge-Derived Brominated Compound Aeroplysinin-1 Impairs the Endothelial Inflammatory Response through Inhibition of the NF-κB Pathway

(+)-Aeroplysinin-1 (Apl-1) is a brominated compound isolated from the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba that exhibits pleiotropic bioactive effects, impairing cell growth in cancer cells, inhibiting angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo and modulating the redox status of different cell types, among other reported activities. In addition to the aforementioned effects, the anti-inflammatory potential of this natural compound was explored in previous work of our laboratory, but the mechanism of action underlying this effect was not described. In this work, we delve into the anti-inflammatory effect of Apl-1 in the context of vascular endothelial cells in vitro, providing new data regarding the molecular mechanism underlying this activity. The characterization of the mechanism of action points to an inhibitory effect of Apl-1 on the NF-κB pathway, one of the main axes involved in endothelial response during inflammatory events. Our results show that Apl-1 can inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)- and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), targeting the nuclear factor kappa B subunit (NF-κB) pathway through a mechanism of action involving the inhibition of I kappa B kinase (IKK) complex phosphorylation and RelA/p65 nuclear import. In addition, Apl-1 prevented the phosphorylation of Akt induced by TNF-α in HUVECs, probably supporting the inhibitory effect of this compound in the NF-κB pathway. Experimental evidence reported in this work opens the door to the potential pharmacological use of this compound as an anti-inflammatory agent in diseases that course with a pathological endothelial response to inflammation, such as atherosclerosis.
Direct Comparison of the Effect of Processing Conditions in Electrolyte-Gated and Bottom-Gated TIPS-Pentacene Transistors

Among the plethora of soluble and easy processable organic semiconductors, 6,13-Bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-P5) is one of the most promising materials for next-generation flexible electronics. However, based on the information reported in the literature, it is difficult to exploit in field-effect transistors the high-performance characteristics of this material. This article correlates the HMDS functionalization of the silicon substrate with the electrical characteristics of TIPS-P5-based bottom gate organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors (EGOFETs) fabricated over the same platform. TIPS-P5 transistors with a double-gate architecture were fabricated by simple drop-casting on Si/SiO2 substrates, and the substrates were either functionalized with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) or left untreated. The same devices were characterized both as standard bottom-gate transistors and as (top-gate) electrolyte-gated transistors, and the results with and without HMDS treatment were compared. It is shown that the functionalization of the silicon substrate negatively influences EGOFETs performance, while it is beneficial for bottom-gate OFETs. Different device architectures (e.g., bottom-gate vs. top-gate) require specific evaluation of the fabrication protocols starting from the effect of the HMDS functionalization to maximize the electrical characteristics of TIPS-P5-based devices.
A Review of COVID-19-Related Literature on Freight Transport: Impacts, Mitigation Strategies, Recovery Measures, and Future Research Directions

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions in the freight transport sector. The number of studies on the impact of COVID-19 on freight transport and possible mitigation strategies are growing. However, a systematic and comprehensive review highlighting the research themes, main findings, research methods, and future research directions of these studies remains scarce. Therefore, this study presents a mixed review comprising scientometric and systematic reviews to cover these research gaps. Results show that 68 studies have been published on this topic since the beginning of 2020 and that they cover three main themes: the impacts of COVID-19 on freight transport, mitigation strategies, and recovery during and after COVID-19. In addition, we describe the research methods, main findings, and possible research directions in each of them. Thus, the findings of our work present both theoretical and practical analyses of COVID-19-related research on freight transport and provide important future research directions in this domain.
Modelling Group Opinion Shift to Extreme : the Smooth Bounded Confidence Model

We consider the phenomenon of opinion shift to the extreme reported in the social psychology literature. We argue that a good candidate to model this phenomenon can be a new variant of the bounded confidence (BC) model, the smooth BC model which we propose in this paper. This model considers individuals with a continuous opinion and an uncertainty. Individuals interact by random pairs, and attract each other's opinion proportionally to a Gaussian function of the distance between their opinions. We first show that this model presents a shift to the extreme when we introduce extremists (very convinced individuals with extreme opinions) in the population, even if there is the same number of extremists located at each extreme. This behaviour is similar to the one already identified with other versions of BC model. Then we propose a modification of the smooth BC model to account for the social psychology data and theories related to this phenomenon. The modification is based on the hypothesis of perspective taking (empathy) in the context of consensus seeking.
NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF VOLTERRA INTEGRO-DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS BY AKBARI-GANJI’S METHOD

In this study, Akbari-Ganji’s Method (AGM) was applied to solve Volterra Integro-Differential Difference Equations (VIDDE) using Legendre polynomials as basis functions. Here, a trial solution function of unknown constants that conform with the differential equations together with the initial conditions were assumed and substituted into the equations under consideration. The unknown coefficients are solved for using the new proposed approach, AGM which principally involves the application of the boundary conditions on successive derivatives and integrals of the problem to obtain a system of equations. The system of equation is solved using any appropriate computer software, Maple 18. Some examples were solved and the results compared to the exact solutions.
Force and torque on an electric dipole by spinning light fields

We calculate the optical force and torque applied to an electric dipole by a spinning light field. We find that the dissipative part of the force depends on the orbital energy flow of the field only, because the latter is related to the phase gradient generalized for such a light field. As for the remaining spin energy flow, it gives rise to an optical torque. The resulting change in the optical force is detailed for different experimentally relevant configurations, and we show in particular how this change is critical when surface plasmon modes are involved.
CAN DRY MERGING EXPLAIN THE SIZE EVOLUTION OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES?

The characteristic size of early-type galaxies (ETGs) of given stellar mass is observed to increase significantly with cosmic time, from redshift z ≳ 2 to the present. A popular explanation for this size evolution is that ETGs grow through dissipationless (“dry”) mergers, thus becoming less compact. Combining N-body simulations with up-to-date scaling relations of local ETGs, we show that such an explanation is problematic, because dry mergers do not decrease the galaxy stellar-mass surface density enough to explain the observed size evolution, and also introduce substantial scatter in the scaling relations. Based on our set of simulations, we estimate that major and minor dry mergers increase half-light radius and projected velocity dispersion with stellar mass as Re ∝ M1.09 ± 0.29* and σe2 ∝ M0.07 ± 0.11*, respectively. This implies that: (1) if the high-z ETGs are indeed as dense as estimated, they cannot evolve into present-day ETGs via dry mergers; (2) present-day ETGs cannot have assembled more than ∼45% of their stellar mass via dry mergers. Alternatively, dry mergers could be reconciled with the observations if there was extreme fine tuning between merger history and galaxy properties, at variance with our assumptions. Full cosmological simulations will be needed to evaluate whether this fine-tuned solution is acceptable.
Interaction in the production of biofilm and drug susceptibility of Candida kefyr with Escherichia coli and Streptococcus dysgalactiae isolated from bovine mastitis

Bovine mastitis is a disease with a high economic impact on dairy farms and it has been described that different species of Candida can cause it. The objectives of this study were to evidence the production of biofilm by strains of Candida Kefyr , to carry out a comparative evaluation of its production by tube and plate techniques, to determine its interaction with Escherichia coli and Streptococcus dysgalactiae isolated from bovine mastitis and know the drug susceptibility of each of them. The identification of C. kefyr was carried out by fermentation and assimilation of carbohydrates, the confirmation of the identification and minimum inhibitory concentration to antimycotics was carried out with Vitek 2 Systems. Plate and tube biofilm formation assays were performed in triplicate. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test were performed, as well as Spearman's correlation to the data obtained. In plate tests, biofilm formation was demonstrated in seven C. kefyr isolates, as well as synergy in combinations with E. coli and S. dysgalactia e. However, the inoculum containing the three microorganisms behaved similarly to that containing only C. kefyr and S. dysgalactiae . It was possible to demonstrate a correlation between biofilm formation tests in tube and plate. This is the first report in Mexico of C. kefyr, as well as the production of biofilm in bovine clinical mastitis.
The Formation of EL CVn-type Binaries

EL CVn-type binaries are eclipsing binaries that contain an Aor F-type dwarf star and a very low mass (∼ 0.2M⊙) helium white dwarf precursor (proto-He WD). A number of such objects have been discovered in the WASP and Kepler photometric surveys. Here we have studied the formation of EL CVn-type binaries and give the properties and the space density of this population of stars in the Galaxy. We show that EL CVn binaries cannot be produced by common envelope evolution as previously believed because this process leads to merging of the components when giants have such low-mass cores. Stable mass transfer in low-mass binaries, from more than 65,000 runs of Population I binary evolution, may well reproduce the properties of EL CVn stars such as the evolutionary phase, mass ratios and the WD mass-period (MWD−P ) relation. The study shows that the most common donor mass range for producing the observed EL CVn-type stars is 1.15 − 1.20M⊙ and that the lifetime of such objects increases dramatically with decreasing proto-He WD mass. This leads to an intrinsic peak mass around the minimum mass of proto-He WDs of ∼ 0.16M⊙. The most probable proto-He WD mass is 0.17 − 0.21M⊙ after selection effects included. We estimated the number of EL CVn stars with P ≤ 2.2 d to be 2−5×10 in the Galaxy, indicating a local density of 4−10×10pc. We conclude that many more EL CVntype binaries remain to be discovered and that these binaries will be predominantly low-mass systems in old stellar populations.
A note on the computation of ordered supported non-dominated solutions in the bi-criteria minimum spanning tree problems

This paper presents a new procedure for computing the set of supported non-dominated solutions of bi-criteria minimum spanning tree problems in ordered manner. The procedure is based on the systematic detection of edges which must be replaced in one efficient solution to obtain the adjacent one, in the criteria space. This new approach avoids solving unnecessary problems and makes use of previous computations. Keywords— minimum spanning tree, supported non-dominated solutions, combinatorial problems.