Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changing research on research evaluation: A critical literature review to revisit the agenda

The current range and volume of research evaluation-related literature is extensive and incorporates scholarly and policy/practice-related perspectives. This reflects academic and practical interest over many decades and trails the changing funding and reputational modalities for universities, namely increased selectivity applied to institutional research funding streams and the perceived importance of university rankings and other reputational devices. To make sense of this highly diverse body of literature, we undertake a critical review of over 350 works constituting, in our view, the ‘state-of-the-art’ on institutional performance-based research evaluation arrangements (PREAs). We focus on PREAs because they are becoming the predominant means worldwide to allocate research funds and accrue reputation for universities. We highlight the themes addressed in the literature and offer critical commentary on the balance of scholarly and policy/ practice-related orientations. We then reflect on five limitations to the state-of-the-art and propose a new agenda, and a change of perspective, to progress this area of research in future studies.
Reinforcement of Carrageenan/Starch Based Bio-Composite by Beads-Milled Chitosan

Carrageenan/corn starch bio-composites is an important biodegradable composite as a substitute for conventional plastic and known as an environmentally friendly material. However, Carrageenan/corn starch bio-composite has poor mechanical properties. This paper reports the effect of chitosan NPs filler concentration on the properties of carrageenan/corn starch bio-composites. Chitosan suspension was prepared by beads mill method and characterized using PSA, SEM and FTIR. The performance of the obtained films was investigated on their mechanical, optical, thermal and transport properties. The result showed that the increased of additional of chitosan NPs caused improved on the tensile strength, WVTR, WPV, and temperature degradation of the bio-composite, but reduced their transparency. It is concluded that additional chitosan NPs able to reinforce carrageenan/corn starch bio-composites film.
The Role of Parents’ Disapproval of Peers and Monitoring on Immigrant and Native Youth’s Participation in Organized Sports in Sweden: The Mediating Role of Engagement in Delinquent Activities

The aim of the present study was (a) to investigate the effect of perceived parents’ disapproval of peer relations and perceived parental monitoring on youth’s engagement in organized sports activities, (b) to examine whether youth’s engagement in delinquent behaviors mediates the link between parents’ behaviors and youth’s participation in and dropout from organized sports, and (c) to test whether the mediation process is moderated by youth’s immigrant background. Data were collected from immigrant and Swedish adolescents (N = 687) in seventh grade over two consecutive years. Our main findings revealed that youth who disclose their whereabouts to parents and whose parents practice control are less likely to engage in delinquent behaviors, and, in turn, more likely to engage in organized sports. The findings were similar with respect to sports dropout. Most importantly, these results hold for both immigrant and Swedish youth.
A novel BEMD-based method for forecasting tourist volume with search engine data

As helpful big data, search engine data (SED) regarding tourism-related factors have currently been introduced to tourist volume prediction, but they have been shown to impact the tourism market on different timescales (or frequency band). This study develops a novel forecasting method using an emerging multiscale analysis—bivariate empirical mode decomposition (BEMD)—to investigate multiscale relationships. Three major steps are performed: (1) SED process to construct an informative index from sufficient SED using statistical analyses, (2) multiscale analysis to extract scale-aligned common factors from the bivariate data of tourist volumes and SED using BEMD, and (3) tourist volume prediction using an SED-based index. In the empirical study, the novel BEMD-based method with SED is used to forecast the tourist volume of Hainan in China, a global tourist attraction, and significantly outperforms both popular techniques (not considering SED or multiscales) and similar variants (considering SED or multiscales) in accuracy and robustness.
Mapping Social Distress: A Computational Approach to Spatiotemporal Distribution of Anxiety

Anxiety is a pervasive emotional state that tends to arise in situations involving uncertainty due partly to social and contextual issues including competition, economic disparity, and social insecurity. Thus, distribution of aggregate emotions, such as in anxiety, may reveal an important picture of otherwise invisible social processes in which individuals interact with local and global opportunities, constraints, and potential threats. The aim of this study is to present a computational approach to the dynamic distribution of anxiety extracted from natural language expressions of users of Twitter, a popular global social media platform. We develop an unsupervised machine learning procedure based on a naive Bayes model to classify contents of anxiety, estimate the degree of anxiety, and construct a geographic map of spatiotemporal distribution of anxiety. To validate our mapping results, a multilevel statistical analysis was performed to examine how anxiety distribution is correlated with other district-level sociodemographic statistics such as rates of birth and early divorce. Implications for further research and extension are discussed.
Distal Thigh Compression Garment Improves Female Athlete Knee Control and Sports Movement Safety Perceptions

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 2B SUMMARY Introduction. This study measured knee frontal plane projection angle (FPPA) and sports safety and performance perceptions of female athletes during a single leg forward hop down and stabilization (SLFHS) for 3 conditions (standard knee sleeve, no device and distal thigh compression garment (DTCG)). The hypothesis was that the DTCG group would display superior dynamic knee valgus FPPA compared to the standard knee sleeve and no device groups. Methods. Eighteen healthy college athletes participated in this prospective cohort study with a randomized device order. FPPA was measured during SLFHS using two-dimensional biomechanical techniques to estimate dynamic knee valgus loading. A 10-cm visual analog scale survey collected data regarding subject perceived knee control, sports movement capability and overall satisfaction for each condition. Pearson correlations delineated knee valgus, safety and performance relationship perceptions (p < 0.05). Results. Mean/maximum dynamic knee valgus FPPA was lowest during the DTCG condition (8.7 ± 6°/12.2 ± 7°), or a 19.4%/21.3% range of motion reduction compared to the standard knee sleeve (10.8 ± 7°/15.5 ± 8°) and a 21.6%/17% reduction compared to the no device (11.1 ± 7°/14.7 ± 7°) conditions. Chi-square tests revealed that the T:25 group displayed a greater proportion of subjects with a “1” score (≤threshold value) than the standard knee brace or no device groups for both mean (one-sided p value = 0.02) and maximal (one-side p value = 0.049 FPPA). In relationship to maximum dynamic knee valgus FPPA, the DTCG was the best overall condition (r = 0.61, p = 0.007), relating more strongly to perceived knee control (r = 0.63, p = 0.005) and sports movement capability (r = 0.64, p = 0.004). Conclusions. Compared to standard knee sleeve and no knee device conditions, the T:25 device provided better dynamic knee valgus FPPA control and stronger subject perceptions of best overall condition, knee control and sports movement capability.
Inductance Calculation and Torque Separation of a Unique Multi-Layer Spoke-type Interior Permanent Magnet Motor using the Frozen Permeability Method

Frozen permeability approach (FP) is employed to separate the average torque components (reluctance and permanent magnet torque) and for the inductance calculation for a Unique Ferrite Multi-Layer Spoke-type Interior Permanent Magnet Motor. Finite element analyses (FEA) models are built to provide many results help to offer more insight analysis. Three factors are taking in account to analyse their effects: permanent magnetism, armature currents of stator and angular rotor position. Also, different saturation levels are analysed, to reveal the influence of magnetic saturation and crosscoupling. These detailed analyses are providing valuable insights for permanent machine design and optimization.
REISCH: Incorporating Lightweight and Reliable Algorithms into Healthcare Applications of WSNs

Healthcare institutions require advanced technology to collect patients’ data accurately and continuously. The tradition technologies still suffer from two problems: performance and security efficiency. The existing research has serious drawbacks when using public-key mechanisms such as digital signature algorithms. In this paper, we propose Reliable and Efficient Integrity Scheme for Data Collection in HWSN (REISCH) to alleviate these problems by using secure and lightweight signature algorithms. The results of the performance analysis indicate that our scheme provides high efficiency in data integration between sensors and server (saves more than 24% of alive sensors compared to traditional algorithms). Additionally, we use Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) to validate the security procedures in our scheme. Security analysis results confirm that REISCH is safe against some well-known attacks.
Pheromones of social bees

Communication of queen's presence. Inhibitory effect of queens on queen rearing. Control of worker ovary development. Laying workers. Stimulatory effect of queen pheromone. Brood pheromone: recognition and stimulatory effect. Comb pheromone: recognition and stimulatory effect. Regulation of drone population. Mating pheromones. Nest and nestmate recognition. Trail and deterrent pheromones. Attraction. Nasonov pheromone. Alarm and aggression pheromones. Bumblebees: colony and foraging pheromones. Bumblebees: mating behaviour.
Corporate governance in the largest family firms in Latin America

The aim of this study is to explore and understand corporate governance patterns in family firms across Latin America. This is in response to several calls in the academic literature urging for more empirical studies in corporate governance in developing regions. ,Following a configurative perspective, a hierarchical cluster analysis is applied to a sample of the 155 largest Latin American family firms. ,The authors identify three main corporate governance configurations across Latin American countries. First, the exported governance model resembles many characteristics of Anglo-American and Continental Europe governance patterns of public listed control, having independence from the board of directors, and mainly hiring non-family management. Second, the super-familial governance model describes private ownership where one or multiple families control both the board of directors and the top-management team. Finally, the hybrid governance model is the largest cluster identified in the sample and combines governance characteristics of both of the foregoing configurations. This configuration exhibits ownership structured through public offerings of shares combined with leadership of the board of directors by a family member as well as moderate family influence on the board and management. ,This is the first study to investigate corporate governance in the largest listed and privately-owned family firms in Latin America. The article extends the conversation on family firm heterogeneity and contributes to the configurative approach in the family business field by offering a cross-country perspective and identifying meaningful taxonomies that are applicable beyond national boundaries.
Diets of adult and chick Herring Gulls Larus argentatus argenteus on Alisa Graig, south-west Scotland

We are grateful to the Marquess of Ailsa for permission to work on Ailsa Craig and Mr. M. McCrindle for providing logistic support. Drs. A. Martin and A. Spaans and A. Valido and R. Noordhius commented upon and revised the original manuscript. This work was supported in part by a studentship of the Direccion General de Universidades e Investigacion del Gobierno de Canarias in the first author.
A Smart Magnetic Responsive Microfiltration Membrane Based on Three-Dimensionally Inverse Colloidal Crystal

Abstract In this article, a magnetic-responsive microfiltration membrane based on three-dimensional (3 D) inverse colloidal crystal (ICC) was prepared with relatively simple approach. We designed the ICC membrane using self-assembly of Fe3O4@SiO2 colloidal crystal into a colloidal crystal template. The resulting close-packed colloidal crystal was infiltrated with a reactive monomer solution. After polymerization, the silica spheres were etched away, resulting in an ICC membrane with Fe3O4 nanoparticles inside. The typical ICC membrane was characterized by SEM and XRD. Meanwhile, We used the KCl diffusion to test the permeability of the membrane. The results illustrated that the highly ordered permeable polymer membrane was successfully prepared by using Fe3O4@SiO2 colloidal crystals as the templates. Furthermore, the functional ICC membrane exhibited excellent magnetic-responsive gating property to separation. The smart environment-responsive gating membranes have potential applications in filtration, sensors and other applications.
Testing the predictive power of an instrument titled “Orientation to School Renewal”

ABSTRACT Policy makers, school practitioners, and scholars around the world have been searching for better school improvement models. The purpose of this study was to understand how an instrument we developed, Orientation to School Renewal, can be used to predict school-level academic achievement. We used the instrument to predict the academic performance of 83 schools as measured by the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) and the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) for mathematics and language. We found our instrument was more sensitive to M-STEP. We found that school renewal efforts were able to predict school academic performance with M-STEP in both mathematics and language. The three leading dimensions for predicting achievement on M-STEP were (a) focus on students and their achievement, (b) internal responsibility, and (c) continuous improvement. The renewal model provides a new perspective on school improvement, and future studies in other countries and international settings are recommended.
Autoregressive Model Based Polarimetric Adaptive Detection Scheme Part I: Theoretical Derivation and Performance Analysis

This article deals with the problem of target detection in coherent radar systems exploiting polarimetric diversity. We resort to a parametric approach and we model the disturbance affecting the data as a multichannel autoregressive process. Following this model, a new polarimetric adaptive detector is derived, which aims at improving the target detection capability while relaxing the requirements on the training data size and the computational burden with respect to existing solutions. A complete theoretical characterization of the asymptotic performance of the derived detector is provided, using two different target fluctuation models. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is shown against simulated data, in comparison with alternative existing solutions.
Pengaruh Usia Terhadap Besarnya Dosis Serap Radiasi Sinar-X yang diterima Pasien Pemeriksaan Toraks

There’s been research aimed at finding out the effects of age on the large absorbed dose of X-ray radiation received by the patient’s thorax examination. The observation data used to figure out the absorbed dose received by the patient is exposure factor consisting of tube voltage (kV), current (A), time (s), and distance (m) of patient from radiation source. The age range of patient obtained in this research is from 17 years until 48 years old, then it’s grouped by the age category set by Depkes. From the observation data of exposure factor and patients age, further do the test using Oneway Anova statistical method test, by taking a significance level of a 0,05. The results from Oneway Anova statistic test is obtained FCalculate value is 1,532 amd sig is 0,211 with FTable value is 2,70 and sig is 0,05 therefore based on test criteria in statistic the early hypothesis (H0) is accepted. Presumably that the age is not affect on the large absorbed dose X-ray radiation received by the patient thorax eximination of range 17 years until 48 years old.
Parasitism Risk and Infection Alter Host Dispersal

Dispersal determines the spatial dynamics of host-parasite assemblages, particularly during invasions and disease epidemics. The risk of parasitism may create an incentive for dispersal, but infection is expected to reduce dispersal ability, which may alter the host’s dispersal response to biotic stressors, including population density. We measured the dispersal of a semiaquatic insect (Notonecta undulata) in aquatic mesocosms in which we manipulated the presence of ectoparasitic Hydrachnidia mites and infected conspecifics. We found that parasitism risk increases host dispersal propensity. Using a flight assay, we determined that parasite infection reduces host dispersal ability. Finally, we used a mark-release-recapture study to investigate the joint effects of both parasitism risk and parasite infection on host dispersal in a natural, spatially structured population. We found that parasitism risk reduced dispersal probability, eliminated positive density-dependent dispersal, and increased dispersal distance. Infection had no effect on dispersal in the natural population. Our results show that parasites can both increase and decrease the movement rates of their hosts, depending on the ecological context, and can alter the host’s dispersal response to other biotic stressors. Future studies should consider the consequences of this double-headed impact of parasites for landscape connectivity, population persistence, and host-parasite coevolution.
An Improved Two-Step Multitemporal SAR Interferometry Method for Precursory Slope Deformation Detection Over Nanyu Landslide

A major landslide in Nanyu township, Zhouqu county, Western China, occurred on July 12, 2018, causing widespread damage and blocking the Bailong river. As a widely used surface deformation measurement technique, persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) method fails in the precursory slope deformation detection over Nanyu landslide for two reasons: the high rate slope deformation of the landslide body before the occurrence of the disaster and the low density of measurement points in the widespread nonurban regions over hillside area. To solve these problems, a two-step multitemporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MTInSAR) method is proposed in this letter. In the proposed method, first, a carefully designed small baseline subsets (SBASs) method is applied to extract the linear high rate deformation component, which is then subtracted from the wrapping interferogram to reduce the likelihood of signal aliasing. In the second step, a two-tier network-based MTInSAR method by exploiting both persistent scatterers (PSs) and distributed scatterers (DSs) is employed to retrieve the residual deformation. The proposed method is applied to 47 Sentinel-1 images acquired between December 2016 and July 2018 and successfully detects the precursory deformation over Nanyu landslide for the first time. Experiment results illustrate the advantage of the proposed method for measuring high rate deformation compared with the traditional PSI. By using the proposed algorithm, the deformation rate map shows a clear landslide boundary and precursors of the rapid slope movements with a maximum displacement rate of 483 mm/year along the line of sight of the satellite.
Low-Frequency Stability Analysis of Inverter-Based Islanded Multiple-Bus AC Microgrids Based on Terminal Characteristics

For system planning of three-phase inverter-based islanded ac microgrids, the low frequency instability issue caused by interactions of inverter droop controllers is a major concern. When internal control information of procured commercial inverters is unknown, impedance-based small-signal stability criteria facilitate prediction of resonances in medium and high frequency ranges, but they usually assume the grid fundamental frequency as constant and thus they are incapable of analyzing the low-frequency oscillation of the fundamental frequency in islanded microgrids. Aiming at solving this issue, this paper proposes two stability analysis methods based on terminal characteristics of inverters and passive connection network including the dynamics of the fundamental frequency for analysis of low-frequency stability in islanded multiple-bus microgrids. Based on the Component Connection Method (CCM) to systematically separate inverters from the passive connection network, a general approach is developed to model the microgrid as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) negative feedback system in the common system d-q reference frame. By applying the generalized Nyquist stability criterion (GNC) to the return-ratio and return-difference matrices of the MIMO system model, the low-frequency stability related to the fundamental frequency can be analyzed using the measured terminal characteristics of inverters. Analysis and simulation of a 37-bus microgrid verify the effectiveness of the proposed stability analysis methods.
Methods for prioritizing protected areas using individual and aggregate rankings

Abstract Despite their legal protection status, protected areas (PAs) can benefit from priority ranks when ongoing threats to their biodiversity and habitats outpace the financial resources available for their conservation. It is essential to develop methods to prioritize PAs that are not computationally demanding in order to suit stakeholders in developing countries where technical and financial resources are limited. We used expert knowledge-derived biodiversity measures to generate individual and aggregate priority ranks of 98 mostly terrestrial PAs on Madagascar. The five variables used were state of knowledge (SoK), forest loss, forest loss acceleration, PA size and relative species diversity, estimated by using standardized residuals from negative binomial models of SoK regressed onto species diversity. We compared our aggregate ranks generated using unweighted averages and principal component analysis (PCA) applied to each individual variable with those generated via Markov chain (MC) and PageRank algorithms. SoK significantly affected the measure of species diversity and highlighted areas where more research effort was needed. The unweighted- and PCA-derived ranks were strongly correlated, as were the MC and PageRank ranks. However, the former two were weakly correlated with the latter two. We recommend using these methods simultaneously in order to provide decision-makers with the flexibility to prioritize those PAs in need of additional research and conservation efforts.
Baculovirus expression vectors: a laboratory manual.

This laboratory manual simplifies selection of the most appropriate baculovirus vector design for a given problem. It then describes each step of the implementation process - from vector construction to large-scale protein production. The book provides an understanding of how the vectors work, a biological overview of cells, viruses, plasmids, and promoters, guidelines for choosing optimum vectors, protocols for growing insect cells and recombinant viruses, methods for analysing protein products and scaling up protein production, techniques for producing proteins in insect larvae, and easy to use maps charting available expression vectors.