Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Social Broadcasting Networks on News Consumption

This study assesses potentially sensitive effects of a specific sub-class of digital social technologies called social broadcasting networks (SBNs). Adopting the explanatory mechanisms of social network structures (Borgatti et al. 2009; Kane et al. 2014), and adapting Herzberg et al’s (1959) Two Factor theory, it investigates how the structure of a SBN (conceptualized as its relative advantage), and the influence of users in a SBN empower two key news consumption behaviours viz. switching and continuance. Employing the survey (qualitative) method, the study empirically validates the news consumption behaviours of 325 respondents. Findings reveal a more nuanced role of SBNs indicating the potential benefits to news firms because of individuals switching to traditional news mediums while in the same breadth highlights the potential of SBNs as competitive news providers. It shows intermittent use of SBNs and signifies that when online and offline news mediums co-exist, influence of users in the incumbent (online) medium plays a powerful role in inducing or refraining the use of a substitute offline medium. This study develops new ontological and theoretical understanding of the entanglement of technology and social activity that is dynamic, at times ephemeral and pervasively ubiquitous.
Impact of gender on the acceptance of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) information in Spain

The aim of this paper is to explore the differences between males and females in the acceptance of eWOM information. For this purpose, the Information Acceptance Model (IACM), which addresses the characteristics that are evaluated in the use and attitude towards the use of information and play a role in the purchase decision-making process, as demonstrated in the literature, has been used as a reference. An empirical model, which is expected to be validated from the information collected through an online questionnaire completed by 271 users of social networking sites in Spain, has been used. A structural equation model (SEM) is introduced to calculate the measurement structure of the variables and the relationships between them. This paper provides useful insights into the understanding of the differences in the behaviour of males and females regarding online eWOM, and therefore could imply differentiated online marketing and reputation management activities.
Motivations for muon radiography of active volcanoes

Muon radiography represents an innovative tool for investigating the interior of active volcanoes. This method integrates the conventional geophysical techniques and provides an independent way to estimate the density of the volcano structure and reveal the presence of magma conduits. The experience from the pioneer experiments performed at Mt. Asama, Mt. West Iwate, and Showa-Shinzan (Japan) are very encouraging. Muon radiography could be applied, in principle, at any stratovolcano. Here we focus our attention on Vesuvius and Stromboli (Italy).
End-user involvement enhancing innovativeness in public procurement. Evidence from a healthcare procurement.

This paper examines public procuring, aiming to increase understanding on how living lab approach and end-user involvement create innovativeness and enhance public procurement results, providing effectiveness and better solutions. Empirical findings are based on a real-life unique public procurement in the healthcare field where living lab approach was used through product testing phase which was included in the procurement procedure. Selected group of users performed product testing in a real homecare environment. Quality of the product formed on the basis of product testing was in significant role for the first time in public healthcare related procurement of City of Oulu, Finland; the winning solution was not the most affordable but the one obtaining highest scores by users. The findings of the study suggest that product testing as a part of public procurement should be more widely taken into use, however, considering the right balance of price-quality ratio to ensure innovativeness. Based on the study, we propose a framework for product testing as a part of public procurement through open procedure.
Paleoenvironmental imprint on subseafloor microbial communities in Western Mediterranean Sea Quaternary sediments

This manuscript reports interesting and relevant data on subsurface microbial diversity and its possible relation to geological parameters, it falls within the thematic scope of the Biogeosciences Journal, but requires to be restructured in a new revised version. Although interdisciplinary studies are very useful, this manuscript is an unusual amalgamation of data (geophysical data, geochemical and DGGE profiles) that tries to be held together by statistical analyses. I have scientific, methodological and presentation issues with this manuscript.
Chemicals associated with plastic packaging: Inventory and hazards

Global plastics production has reached 380 million metric tons in 2015, with around 40% used for packaging. Plastic packaging is diverse and made of multiple polymers and numerous additives, along with other components, such as adhesives or coatings. Further, packaging can contain residues from substances used during manufacturing, such as solvents, along with non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), such as impurities, oligomers, or degradation products. To characterize risks from chemicals potentially released during manufacturing, use, disposal, and/or recycling of packaging, comprehensive information on all chemicals involved is needed. Here, we present a database of Chemicals associated with Plastic Packaging (CPPdb), which includes chemicals used during manufacturing and/or present in final packaging articles. The CPPdb lists 906 chemicals likely associated with plastic packaging and 3377 substances that are possibly associated. Of the 906 chemicals likely associated with plastic packaging, 63 rank highest for human health hazards and 68 for environmental hazards according to the harmonized hazard classifications assigned by the European Chemicals Agency within the Classification, Labeling and Packaging (CLP) regulation implementing the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System (GHS). Further, 7 of the 906 substances are classified in the European Union as persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT), or very persistent, very bioaccumulative (vPvB), and 15 as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC). Thirty-four of the 906 chemicals are also recognized as EDC or potential EDC in the recent EDC report by the United Nations Environment Programme. The identified hazardous chemicals are used in plastics as monomers, intermediates, solvents, surfactants, plasticizers, stabilizers, biocides, flame retardants, accelerators, and colorants, among other functions. Our work was challenged by a lack of transparency and incompleteness of publicly available information on both the use and toxicity of numerous substances. The most hazardous chemicals identified here should be assessed in detail as potential candidates for substitution.
Real-time Partition of Streamed Graphs for Data Mining Over Large Scale Data

Mining data in real-time from large graphs requires a lot of memory to obtain a good distribution of information. Current state of the art solutions for streamed graphs are not scalable and they work with a single stream source. We propose a new reduced memory model to partition large graphs over big streams to improve mining algorithms. The aim of our work is to give support to data mining algorithms over largescale structured data (e.g., Web structure, social networks) to minimise communication among partitions. In our architecture, the incoming graph elements are sampled to reduce total memory usage and the information in each partitioner is updated in a feedback scheme to allow multiple entry points. We have made experimentation with real-world graphs and we have discussed about the suitability of different sampling strategies depending on the graph structure. In addition, we have executed the PageRank algorithm over the partitioned graph, in order to measure the influence of the partition in the execution of a mining algorithm. Keywords–Big Graphs; Data Streaming; Graph Partition; Sampling.
LINKAGE MAPPING OF CANDIDATE GENES FOR INDUCED RESISTANCE AND GROWTH PROMOTION BY Trichoderma koningiopsis (Th003) IN TOMATO Solanum lycopersicum

Induced systemic resistance (ISR) is a mechanism by which plants enhance defenses against any stress condition. ISR and growth promotion are enhanced when tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is inoculated with several strains of Trichoderma ssp. This study aims to genetically map tomato candidate genes involved in ISR and growth promotion induced by the Colombian native isolate Trichoderma koningiopsis Th003. Forty-nine candidate genes previously identified on tomato plants treated with Th003 and T. hamatum T382 strains were evaluated for polymorphisms and 16 of them were integrated on the highly saturated genetic linkage map named “TOMATO EXPEN 2000”. The location of six unigenes was similar to the location of resistance gene analogs (RGAs), defense related ESTs and resistance QTLs previously reported, suggesting new possible candidates for these quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions. The candidate gene-markers may be used for future ISR or growth promotion assisted selection in tomato.
Effects of climate variability on evaporation in Dongping Lake, China, during 2003–2010

Based on two long-term, hourly (10:30–11:30 and 13:10–14:10) meteorological over-lake observations and data from Shenxian meteorological station, nearby Dongping Lake, the Penman-Monteith equation and reference evaporation ratio algorithm were used to calculate lake evaporation in Dongping Lake, China, from 2003 to 2010. The variation trend of evaporation of Dongping Lake was analyzed, and the influences that caused changes in lake evaporation were also discussed. The results show that (1) the total annual evaporation in Dongping Lake increased at 18.24 mm/a during 2003–2010.The major climatic factors accounting for this increase are the rising net radiation and the rising air temperature; (2) the total annual evaporation in a particular hour (13:10–14:10) in Dongping Lake increased at 4.55 mm/a during 2003–2010—the major climate factors that accounted for this increase are rising net radiation, followed by air temperature, wind velocity, and air humidity; (3) against the background of global warming, the climate of Dongping Lake tended to be dry during 2003–2010; the largest contribution to this comes from air temperature, followed by wind velocity and relative humidity; and (4) the monthly evaporation in Dongping Lake has seasonal variability.
Applying Kansei Engineering Method on Investigating Mobile Phone’s Brand Image Amongst Iranian Young Designers

As Walter Landor declared "Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind", brand image in the customer's mind, plays an important role in success of products in today's high-competitive market. With this in mind, the aim of this research is to investigate the brand image of top-selling mobile phone manufacturers amongst a group of young design students in the telecommunication sector of Iranian local market. Iranian population constitutes one of the youngest countries in the world; on the other hand the young designers are generally considered as ICT-savvy individuals that steer the market inclinations. Therefore, this segment of users has been selected as the target group. To achieve the aim of this study, the Kansei Engineering method is utilized for verbalizing the associated qualities of the brand images. To find customer's perception of brand images, 6 brands were chosen respectively as followed in alphabetical order: Apple, HTC, LG, Nokia, Samsung and Sony. According to their relevance for brand characteristics, 30 Kansei pair-words have been selected. In order to analyze the obtained data, one way analysis of variance and factor analysis methods has been used to find the internal relation between the image and the aforementioned Kansei words which are corresponding to psychological mapping of the subject mindset towards these brands. Finally the results of this study can contribute to the market performance of these brands as well as developing a more realistic picture of demographic data of the Iranian young designers.
Micro-text classification between small and big data

Micro-texts emerging from social media platforms have become an important source for research. Automatized classification and interpretation of such micro-texts is challenging. The problem is exaggerated if the number of texts is at a medium level, making it too small for effective machine learning, but too big to be efficiently analyzed solely by humans. We present a semi-supervised learning system for micro-text classification that combines machine learning techniques with the unmatched human ability for making demanding, i.e. nonlinear decisions based on sparse data. We compare our system with human performance and a predefined optimal classifier using a validated benchmark data-set.
Somewhere between illusion of control and powerlessness: Trying to situate the pathological gambler´s locus of control

It has been suggested that pathological gamblers develop illusory perceptions of control regarding the outcome of the games and should express higher internal and chance locus of control. A sample of 48 outpatients diagnosed with pathological gambling disorder who participated in this ex post facto study, completed the Internality, Powerful Others, and Chance Scale, the South Oaks Gambling Screen Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Results for the locus of control measure were compared with a reference group. Pathological gamblers scored higher than the reference group on the Chance locus of control, which increased with the severity of cases. Moreover, internal locus of control did show a curvilinear relationship with the severity of cases. Pathological gamblers have specific locus of control scores that vary in function of the severity, in a linear fashion or a non-linear fashion according to the scale. This effect might be caused by competition between illusion of control and the tendency to attribute adverse consequence of gambling to external causes.
Forage yield, nutritive value, feed intake and digestibility of three grass species as affected by harvest frequency.

Two experiments on the effects of cutting interval on forage production, nutritive value, feed intake and digestibility of elephant grass (Eg) and two guinea grass (Gg) cultivars 280 and I.429, were carried out. Three grasses harvested at 4 cutting intervals (4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks) were compared in a split plot design in the production experiment. In the feed intake and digestibility experiment, 3 grasses and 3 cutting intervals (4, 6 and 8 weeks) were examined in a 3 × 2 change-over design with 6 crossbred Holstein heifers. Forage DM production increased as length of cutting interval increased and forage quality, in terms of CP and cell wall concentrations, decreased. The yields of DM, CP, digestible DM and digestible CP were highest in Gg 280 followed by Gg I.429 and Eg. Mean intakes of forage (DM basis) of Eg, Gg 280 and Gg I.429 were 90.4, 104.6 and 94.5 g/kg Lwt0.73, respectively, with no effect of cutting interval. With the decline in crude protein concentration in older forage, the CP intake of around 13.4 g/kg Lwt0.73 from the 4-week cuts declined to about 6.7 g/kg Lwt0.73 in the 8-week cuts. Digestibility of dry matter and crude protein decreased significantly as cutting interval increased, with no differences between grass species. To obtain the best balance between dry matter yield and forage quality, the optimum cutting frequency seems to be about 6 weeks. There is a possibility that this could be extended to 8 weeks for elephant grass.
All the generalized Georgi-Machacek models

The Georgi-Machacek model adds two SU(2)_L-triplet scalars to the Standard Model in such a way as to preserve custodial SU(2) symmetry. We study the generalizations of the Georgi-Machacek model to SU(2)_L representations larger than triplets. Perturbative unitarity considerations limit the possibilities to models containing only SU(2)_L quartets, quintets, or sextets. These models are phenomenologically interesting because they allow the couplings of the 125 GeV Higgs boson to WW and ZZ to be larger than their values in the Standard Model. We write down the most general custodial SU(2)-preserving scalar potentials for these models and outline their phenomenology. We find that experimental and theoretical constraints on the fermiophobic custodial-fiveplet states present in each of the models lead to absolute upper bounds on the 125 GeV Higgs boson coupling strength to WW and ZZ.
Chemical versus mechanical inhibition of fouling in the red alga Dilsea carnosa

In this study, we used field experiments in natural populations to test whether the low degree of fouling found naturally on the red alga Dilsea carnosa (Schmidel) O. Kuntze (1893) is due to chemical inhibition by antifouling metabolites. Extracts with concentrations volumetrically equiva- lent to whole algal tissue were incorporated into stable gels, which served as settlement substrata for potential fouling organisms. The gels were placed in the field during several time periods, covering all seasons. We also investigated the fouling intensity on living D. carnosa plants to be able to compare fouling on algae with fouling on gels. The extracts inhibited recruitment of a few fouling organisms, but they were not effective against the dominant bryozoan fouling species Electra pilosa and Membranipora membranacea. Furthermore, a relatively high number of these species occasion- ally recruited onto D. carnosa plants. Hence, chemical inhibition of fouling could not explain the low degree of fouling of bryozoan species found naturally on D. carnosa. Instead, based on field observa- tions showing that D. carnosa is able to shed its epidermis, we hypothesised that the low degree of fouling is primarily due to cuticle peeling, whereby the alga sloughs off the outermost cell layer in order to remove associated fouling organisms. This hypothesis was tested in a field survey in which D. carnosa plants were marked and surveyed for about 5 mo. The results show that individual algae that experienced a radical drop in their fouling cover had distinct traces of cuticle peeling. Hence, this study suggests that the dominant fouling organisms are not chemically inhibited by D. carnosa. Instead, the low degree of fouling found naturally on D. carnosa is probably a consequence of a mechanical defence, whereby the alga sloughs off the outermost cell layer in order to remove associ- ated epibiota.
Iris Localization with an Improved Least Squares Fitting Algorithm

Abstract. According to the disadvantages that calculation speed of traditional iris localization algorithm is slow and takes up much space. In this paper, we propose a new iris localization algorithm with an improved least squares fitting. Making use of the characteristics that gray value of iris image is difference from peripheral image around the iris, it uses Canny edge detector to detect iris image boundary and looks for a proper threshold to binarize image, and then uses least squares fitting to locate inner boundary and makes up circular arc segment of outer boundary. Finally, the center coordinate and radius of iris boundary can be easy to compute. The experimental results basing on over 150 images from CASIA iris image database have shown that accuracy of our localization method can be achieved as high as 99% and is over 150ms faster than the references mentioned in the paper. Our algorithm also reduces calculation complexity and saves memory space.
Air quality in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games

Abstract. Air quality during the Commonwealth Games (CWG, held in Delhi in October 2010) is analyzed using a new air quality forecasting system established for the games. The CWG stimulated enhanced efforts to monitor and model air quality in the region. The air quality of Delhi during the CWG had high levels of particles with mean values of PM2.5 and PM10 at the venues of 111 and 238 μg m−3, respectively. Black carbon (BC) accounted for ~ 10% of the PM2.5 mass. It is shown that BC, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are well predicted, but with positive biases of ~ 25%. The diurnal variations are also well captured, with both the observations and the modeled values showing nighttime maxima and daytime minima. A new emissions inventory, developed as part of this air quality forecasting initiative, is evaluated by comparing the observed and predicted species-species correlations (i.e., BC : CO; BC : PM2.5; PM2.5 : PM10). Assuming that the observations at these sites are representative and that all the model errors are associated with the emissions, then the modeled concentrations and slopes can be made consistent by scaling the emissions by 0.6 for NOx, 2 for CO, and 0.7 for BC, PM2.5, and PM10. The emission estimates for particles are remarkably good considering the uncertainty in the estimates due to the diverse spread of activities and technologies that take place in Delhi and the rapid rates of change. The contribution of various emission sectors including transportation, power, domestic and industry to surface concentrations are also estimated. Transport, domestic and industrial sectors all make significant contributions to PM levels in Delhi, and the sectoral contributions vary spatially within the city. Ozone levels in Delhi are elevated, with hourly values sometimes exceeding 100 ppb. The continued growth of the transport sector is expected to make ozone pollution a more pressing air pollution problem in Delhi. The sector analysis provides useful inputs into the design of strategies to reduce air pollution levels in Delhi. The contribution for sources outside of Delhi on Delhi air quality range from ~ 25% for BC and PM to ~ 60% for day time ozone. The significant contributions from non-Delhi sources indicates that in Delhi (as has been show elsewhere) these strategies will also need a more regional perspective.
Industries and the Bank Lending Effects of Bank Credit Demand and Monetary Policy in Germany

A multi-core computer processor including a plurality of processor cores interconnected in a Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture, a plurality of caches, each of the plurality of caches being associated with one and only one of the plurality of processor cores, and a plurality of memories, each of the plurality of memories being associated with a different set of at least one of the plurality of processor cores and each of the plurality of memories being configured to be visible in a global memory address space such that the plurality of memories are visible to two or more of the plurality of processor cores.