Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender pay gap in Vietnam: a propensity score matching analysis

Purpose – This paper investigates the extent, the determinants and the change in the gender pay gap in Vietnam in the period 2010–2016 in order to provide suggestions for policy adjustment to narrow gender pay inequality more effectively. Design/methodology/approach – This study employs the propensity score matching (PSM) method to examine inequality in pay between female and male earners sharing identical characteristics. The analysis is conducted for both the full sample and various characteristic-based subsamples. This procedure is conducted for 2010 and 2016 separately to discover the change in gap and inequality during this period. Findings –The matching results based on the data sets taken from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) 2010 and 2016 affirm that gender income inequality in Vietnam, though persisted, decreased significantly in 2016 compared to 2010, and was insignificant in many subsamples in 2016. In addition to the observable determinants including educational level, occupation, economic sector and industry, unobservable factors are proved to also play an important role in creating the gender pay gap in Vietnam. Practical implications – The research findings suggest that policies aimed at mitigating gender pay inequality should take into account both observable characteristics and unobservable factors such as unobservable gender differences that affect wages and gender discrimination in pay. Originality/value – This is the first study using a matching technique to investigate gender wage gap in Vietnam. With up-to-date data, longer research period and the superiority of the method used in dealing with sample selection bias, the results obtained are more robust, more detailed and reliable.
Bounded perturbation resilience of viscosity proximal algorithm for solving split variational inclusion problems with applications to compressed sensing and image recovery

Split variational inclusion problems are core and useful technique that connects many important problems in nonlinear analysis. This paper proposes a resolvent‐based superiorization method for solving split variational inclusion problems, and some strong convergence theorems are proved under some mild conditions. Superiorization iterative procedures are simple yet powerful method that interlaces two algorithmic procedures under the assumption that one of the algorithmic procedure called the basic algorithm is resilient to the disturbances of its iterates caused by the activities of the other algorithm called perturbations. The numerical results in this paper show that our results are improvements and extensions of the corresponding results announced by many others.
EFFECT OF DEFICIT IRRIGATION ON QUALITY INDICATORS OF APRICOT FRUITS AFTER HARVESTING AND STORAGE

Trees irrigation is one of the major activities because the fruit production is proportional to water use. The current decrease of water resources leads to the urgent need to adopt a strategy which could be applied to efficiently utilize water without affecting the growth, yield and fruit quality. Therefore, deficit irrigation is an alternative. The crop studied was apricot, 'Orizont' cultivar, 13 years old, grafted on the 'Constanta 14' rootstock. The planting distance was 4 m between the rows and 5 m between trees on the row. The split-plot experiment described here is monofactorial with irrigation strategy having three graduations. The irrigation regime consists of a fully irrigated treatment (b1, non-stressed) according to the irrigation needs (100% of ETc = ETo x Kc), a deficit irrigation treatment (b2) irrigated with half the amount of water in b1 (50% of ETc), and a control, non-irrigated treatment (b3). These plots comprised three adjacent fruit tree rows, with the central row containing five trees for measurements and observations. This research aims to study the effects of deficit irrigation on some quality indicators of apricot fruits after harvest and storage. Fruits in the b3 treatment were much firmer, followed by the fruits from the b2 treatment. The study suggests that moderate deficit irrigation can be profitable for enhancing key fruit quality characteristics.
Railway Fastener Defects Detection under Various Illumination Conditions using Fuzzy C-Means Part Model

To ensure the safe operation of railways, computer vision and pattern recognition technology have been gradually applied to the routine inspection of railway track infrastructure. Rails are fixed to sleepers by railway fasteners, which are important components in railway track systems, and completely missing and partially worn railway fasteners may cause major accidents and train derailments. Because the acquisition of track images is carried out in the real world at any time of the day, the acquired track images have large illumination changes, and the fasteners in the images have slight deformations. To solve these problems, a fuzzy c-means part model (FCMPM) is proposed in this paper. The fastener part model is divided according to the fastener shape and solved by the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm using the simplified and improved histogram of oriented gradients as the low-level feature. The part score is calculated based on the part’s deformation and then is seamlessly incorporated with cascade detection to determine whether the fastener has defects or not. The experimental results from the fastener defect detection show that the proposed FCMPM algorithm achieves good performance when analysing the collected fastener images and can meet the requirements of fastener defect detection for actual railway lines.
Down-the-barrel observations of a multi-phase quasar outflow at high redshift

We present ultraviolet to near infrared spectroscopic observations of the quasar SDSS J001514+184212 and its proximate molecular absorber at z = 2.631. The [O III] emission line of the quasar is composed of a broad (FWHM ∼ 1600 km s−1), spatially unresolved component, blueshifted by about 600 km s−1 from a narrow, spatially-resolved component (FWHM ∼ 650 km s−1). The wide, blueshifted, unresolved component is consistent with the presence of outflowing gas in the nuclear region. The narrow component can be further decomposed into a blue and a red blob with a velocity width of several hundred km s−1 each, seen ∼5 pkpc on opposite spatial locations from the nuclear continuum emission, indicating outflows on galactic scales. The presence of ionised gas on kpc scales is also seen from a weak C IV emission component, detected in the trough of a saturated C IV absorption that removes the strong nuclear emission from the quasar. Towards the nuclear emission, we observe absorption lines from atomic species in various ionisation and excitation stages and confirm the presence of strong H2 lines originally detected in the SDSS spectrum. The overall absorption profile is very wide, spread over ∼600 km s−1, and it roughly matches the velocities of the narrow blue [O III] blob. From a detailed investigation of the chemical and physical conditions in the absorbing gas, we infer densities of about nH ∼ 104 − 105 cm−3 in the cold (T ∼ 100 K) H2-bearing gas, which we find to be located at ∼10 kpc distances from the central UV source. We conjecture that we are witnessing different manifestations of a same AGN-driven multi-phase outflow, where approaching gas is intercepted by the line of sight to the nucleus. We corroborate this picture by modelling the scattering of Ly-α photons from the central source through the outflowing gas, reproducing the peculiar Ly-α absorption-emission profile, with a damped Ly-α absorption in which red-peaked, spatially offset, and extended Ly-α emission is seen. Our observations open up a new way to investigate quasar outflows at high redshift and shed light on the complex issue of AGN feedback.
The Impact of Decreased Margin Requirements on Futures Markets: Evidence from CSI 300 Index Futures

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate whether margin downregulations helped enhance the functions of index futures markets following the stock market crash in China in 2015. Using high-frequency trading data, we estimate the changes in the price discovery and volatility spillover relationships between the CSI 300 index and its futures. We find that reducing the margin ratio strengthens the lead role of futures in the lead–lag relationship and results in more volatility transmission from futures markets to the stock market. Furthermore, this paper shows that the expiration-day effect negatively influences the two functions.
Deep learning for occluded and multi-scale pedestrian detection: A review

Pedestrian detection, as a research hotspot in the ﬁeld of computer vision, is widely used in many ﬁelds, such as automatic driving, video surveillance, robots and so on. In recent years, with the rapid development of deep learning, pedestrian detection technology has made unprecedented breakthroughs. However, it fails to saturate pedestrian detection research, and there are still many problems to be solved. This study reviews the current research status of pedestrian detection methods based on deep learning. In the ﬁrst place, we summarised the research results of two stage and one stage pedestrian detection based on deep learning, also summarised and analysed the improvement methods. Meanwhile, we focused on the occlusion and multi-scale problems of pedestrian detection and discussed the corresponding solutions. At last, we induced the pedestrian detection datasets and evaluation methods and prospected the development trend of deep learning in pedestrian detection.
Chemistry and Microscopy of Wood Decay by Some Higher Ascomycetes

Summary White-rot Chemical and microscopic features of wood decay by several ascomycetes in axenic culture are described. The tested ascomycetes caused significant weight losses in birch wood. Daldinia concentrica was especially active, causing a weight loss of 62.9% after 2 months. While lignin and carbohydrates were both degraded, carbohydrates were preferentially attacked. As measured by alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation, syringylpropane units of the lignin were removed selectively. All of the tested ascomycetes eroded fiber cells walls beginning from the lumen. Some also caused cavities in the secondary walls, typical of soft-rot decay. Pine wood was generally resistant to decay; some of those species which were capable of forming soft-rot cavities in birch caused significant weight loss in pine. Alstonia scholaris, a tropical hardwood with a guaiacyl-rich lignin, was resistant to degradation. Soft-rot
Comments on Zooplankton mortality effects on the plankton community of the Northern Humboldt Current System: Sensitivity of a regional biogeochemical model

Abstract. Small pelagic fish off the coast of Peru in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific (ETSP) support around 10 % of the global fish catches. Their stocks fluctuate interannually due to environmental variability which can be exacerbated by fishing pressure. Because these fish are planktivorous, any change in fish abundance may directly affect the plankton and the biogeochemical system. To investigate the potential effects of variability in small pelagic fish populations on lower trophic levels, we used a coupled physical-biogeochemical model to build scenarios for the ETSP and compare these against an already published reference simulation. The scenarios mimic changes in fish predation by either increasing or decreasing mortality of the model's large and small zooplankton compartments. The results revealed that large zooplankton was the main driver of the response of the community. Its concentration increased under low mortality conditions and its prey, small zooplankton and large phytoplankton, decreased. The response was opposite, but weaker, in the high mortality scenarios. This asymmetric behaviour can be explained by the different ecological roles of large, omnivorous zooplankton, and small zooplankton, which in the model is strictly herbivorous. The response of small zooplankton depended on the antagonistic effects of mortality changes as well as the grazing pressure by large zooplankton. The results of this study provide a first insight on how the plankton ecosystem might respond if variations in fish populations were modelled explicitly.
The Use of Hypergeometric Functions in Hysteresis Modeling

Accurate hysteresis models are necessary for modeling of magnetic components of devices such as transformers and motors. This study presents a hysteresis model with a convenient analytical form, based on hypergeometric functions with one free parameter, built upon a class of parameterized curves. The aim of this work is to explore suitability of the presented model for describing major and minor loops, as well as to demonstrate improved agreement between experimental and modeled hysteresis loops. The procedure for generating first order reversal curves is also discussed. The added parameter, introduced into the model, controls the shape of the model curve, especially near saturation. It can be adjusted to provide better agreement between measured and model curves. The model parameters are nonlinearly dependent; therefore, they are determined in a nonlinear curve fitting procedure. The choice of the initial approximation and a suitable set of constraints for the optimization procedure are discussed. The inverse of the model function, required to generate first order reversal curves, cannot be obtained in analytical form. The procedure to calculate the inverse numerically is presented. Performance of the model is demonstrated and verified on experimental data obtained from measurements on construction steel sheets and grain-oriented electrical steel samples.
Transcriptional regulation of maize (Zea mays) ear-length heterosis

Background: Maize (Zea mays) ear length, which is an important yield component, exhibits strong heterosis. Understanding the potential molecular mechanisms of ear-length heterosis is critical for efficient yield-related breeding.Results: Here, a joint netted pattern, including six parent-hybrid triplets, was designed on the basis of two maize lines having long (T121 line) and short (T126 line) ears. Global transcriptional profiling of the young ears (containing meristem) was performed. Multiple comparative analyses revealed that 874 differentially expressed genes are mainly responsible for the ear-length variation between the T121 and T126 lines. Among them, four key genes, Zm00001d049958, Zm00001d027359, Zm00001d048502 and Zm00001d052138, were identified as being related to meristem development, which corroborated their roles in the superior genetic effects on ear length in the T121 line. Non-additive expression patterns were used to identify candidate genes related to ear-length heterosis. A non-additively expressed gene (Zm00001d050649) was associated with the timing of meristematic phase transition and was determined to be the homolog of tomato SELF PRUNING, which assists SINGLE FLOWER TRUSS in driving yield-related heterosis, indicating that Zm00001d050649 is a potential contributor to drive heterotic effect on ear length. Conclusion: Our results suggest that inbred parents provide genetic and heterotic effects on the ear lengths of their F1 hybrids through two independent pathways. These findings provide comprehensive insights into the transcriptional regulation of ear length and improve the understanding of ear-length heterosis in maize.
Criminalisation of human error in health care: How and why legal accountability can crowd out professional accountability and undermine patient safety

This research is about accountability in health care. Theoretically it aims to shed light on two types of public accountability, how these types interact and relate to the aim of learning to improve patient safety. The study addresses the theoretical questions how and why legal accountability can crowd out professional accountability. It seeks to answer the empirical question what is the impact of criminal charges against health professionals by presenting two sets of data: First, a case study of an event, first of its kind in Iceland, in which a nurse in an intensive care unit was charged for manslaughter by negligence in May 2014. The court case material is examined and specialised in-depth and semistructured interviews conducted to describe the experience at the level of the individual and to account for organisational responses. Second, explorative focus groups were carried out in preparation of an internet survey conducted among all practising nurses in Iceland measuring the impact of the prosecution. The narrative highlights the complexities and risks of error involved in health care. Survey results show that the prosecution has increased the level of insecurity among nurses and raised awareness of the risk involved to themselves in their job. This court case established a precedent and constitutes a defining moment in the health care system. While accountability mechanisms were in their infancies in the system, health professionals in Iceland lost their immunity with a possible setback for the fostering of effective professional accountability mechanisms and devastating consequences for patient safety.
Retinal Structural and Microvascular Alterations in Different Acute Ischemic Stroke Subtypes

Introduction Retinal structural and microvascular damages reflect damage to cerebral microvasculature and neurons. We aimed to investigate neovascular unit abnormalities among patients with large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) or small-vessel occlusion (SAA) and control subjects. Methods Twenty-eight LAA patients, forty-one SAA patients, and sixty-five age- and gender-matched controls were recruited. Based on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), retinal capillary vessel density was assessed in the general and local sectors, and the thickness of individual retinal layer was extracted from retinal structural images. The differences between structural and microvascular were analyzed. Results The superior peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness was significantly different among the three groups, and the LAA group had the thinnest thickness. Compared to the control group, the deep retinal capillary vessel density in other two stroke subgroups were significantly reduced in all regions except in the inferior region (P < 0.05), and the fractal dimension in C2 and C4 regions of deep retina was significantly lower in the LAA group (P < 0.05). Discussion. Compared with superficial microvascular network, deep microvascular network is more sensitive to ischemic stroke. In addition, we have demonstrated quadrant-specific pRNFL abnormalities in LAA and SAA patients. Superior quadrant pRNFL thickness differences between stroke subgroups may suggest that changes in retinal nerve fiber layer are more sensitive to subtype identification than changes in retinal microvascular structure. All in all, the alteration in retinal structural and microvascular may further elucidate the role of the neovascular unit in ischemic stroke, suggesting that the combination of these two indicators could be used for subtype identification to guide prognosis and establish a risk prediction model.
Catalytic activity of novel thermoplastic/cellulose-Au nanocomposites prepared by cryomilling

Due to environmental concerns, increasing attention has been focused on the application and preparation of biobased polymers and their blends. In this study, cellulose, the most spread biopolymer on Earth, was used in the preparation of novel cotton/polypropylene-Au and cotton/polyethylene-Au nanocomposites via a green mechanochemical approach. First, mechanoradicals were generated by ball milling of the cotton and thermoplastics under cryo conditions, and then, these radicals were used in the reduction of Au ions to Au nanoparticles (Au NPs). Nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The application of mechanochemistry in obtaining the cotton/thermoplastic blends allowed homogenous and fine blending of the samples and in addition, excluded the usage of toxic solvents. Since Au NPs exhibit a wide range of applications, e.g., in catalysis, cotton/thermoplastic-Au nanocomposites were used to catalyze the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol, followed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Finally, the hydrophobicity of the nanocomposites was alternated by tuning the blend composition. In the prepared nanocomposites, cotton and thermoplastics acted as very good supporting matrices for the Au NPs and provided satisfactory access to the NPs.
Tevekkül Yönelimi Ölçeği Geliştirilmesi: Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışması

Tawakkul, which is an important concept belonging to the religion of Islam, is also considered as a religious coping strategy. The aim of this study is to develop a scale that can measure the tawakkul orientation and to examine the psychometric properties of the scale. First of all, the 54-item list prepared in five-point Likert type was reduced to 44 items with expert opinions (content validity), and then the 44-item draft scale was applied to the study group. The study group of the research consists of 338 people, whose ages vary between 19 and 65, with a mean age of 29.3 (±9.72). Content validity, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed for validity of the scale. According to explatory factor analysis the scale has 23 item and 3 factor, this model was found to fit well according to confirmatory factor analysis. The internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale was found to be 0,928. The sub-scales of the scale were named Emotion and Cognition, Negative Attitude towards Behavior, Positive Attitude towards Behavior. These results demonstrate that Tawakkul Orientation Scale is a valid and reliable instrument.
On the NURBS-based isogeometric analysis for couple stress-based nonlinear instability of PFGM microplates

Abstract A porosity-dependent nonlinear postbuckling analysis for microplates prepared from a porous functionally graded material (PFGM) is performed based on the modified couple stress theory of elasticity (MCSTE). To accomplish this purpose, the modified couple stress-based nonlinear differential equations are derived by third-order shear deformation plate theory (TSDPT). To extract PFGM microplate effective mechanical properties, a power-law function is utilized which is capable of incorporating porosity dependency and material gradient, simultaneously. Thereafter, the non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS)-based isogeometric analytical method is employed as an effective discretization method which could satisfy C−1 continuity condition. It is demonstrated that the gap between equilibrium paths relevant to various couple stress length scales reduces by going deeper in postbuckling regime. Also, one can see that for certain porosity and material property gradient index values, by boundary condition transformation from simply supported to clamped, the contribution of the effect of couple stress size in PFGM microplate postbuckling response becomes more significant, especially for a higher maximum deflection values.