Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When the search domain is back region in Baltic: The Latvian aiz as compared to the Lithuanian už

The paper sets out to examine prepositional polysemy in the Baltic languages. More precisely, the investigation focuses on the semantic structure of the Latvian preposition aiz + Gen. ‘behind, beyond’ as compared to the Lithuanian už + Gen. / Acc. ‘behind, beyond, for’ discussed in our previous paper (Šeškauskienė & Žilinskaitė-Šinkūnienė 2015). The methodology of research relies on the cognitive linguistic framework, mainly on the principle of motivated polysemy. Its key idea is that in the semantic network of the preposition all senses are seen as directly or indirectly linked to the central sense. In the case of aiz and už, the central sense encodes information about spatial configuration of Figure and Ground with the former located in the back region of the latter. A number of other senses, mostly concrete, derived from the central sense, overlap in Latvian and Lithuanian but demonstrate a differing degree of entrenchment. The most distinct differences are identifiable in the abstract senses.
A BERT-Based Multi-Criteria Recommender System for Hotel Promotion Management

Numerous reviews are posted every day on travel information sharing platforms and sites. Hotels want to develop a customer recommender system to quickly and effectively identify potential target customers. TripAdvisor, the travel website that provided the data used in this study, allows customers to rate the hotel based on six criteria: Value, Service, Location, Room, Cleanliness, and Sleep Quality. Existing studies classify reviews into positive, negative, and neutral by extracting sentiment terms through simple sentimental analysis. However, this method has limitations in that it does not consider various aspects of hotels well. Therefore, this study performs fine-tuning the BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) model using review data with rating labels on the TripAdvisor site. This study suggests a multi-criteria recommender system to recommend a suitable target customers for the hotel. As the rating values of six criteria of TripAdvisor are insufficient, the proposed recommender system uses fine-tuned BERT to predict six criteria ratings. Based on this predicted ratings, a multi-criteria recommender system recommends personalized Top-N customers for each hotel. The performance of the multi-criteria recommender system suggested in this study is better than that of the benchmark system, a single-criteria recommender system using overall ratings.
Transformation of the Personnel Management System in the Conditions of Digitalization of HR Processes

Human capital is the driving force behind the digital economy. The use of digital technology has a significant impact on the entire life cycle of personnel in an organization, including hiring, onboarding, and firing. The authors examined the essence of the personnel management system, various models for building a personnel management system in an organization, and studied applying a particular model for a specific organization. The authors studied and visually presented the features of objects, subjects and goals of the personnel management system. The authors also examined the impact of digitalization on the personnel management system, what requirements are imposed on personnel's professional competencies, and new and already used trends in HR automation and recruiting that will help to work better and more efficiently. Generalization of theoretical and empirical experience, cognitive technologies based on the use of artificial intelligence and digital data in HR management allowed the authors to highlight innovative solutions and propose an algorithm for transforming the personnel management system in the context of digitalization of HR processes. Besides, the authors proposed criteria and a scale for assessing the effectiveness of the transformation of the personnel management system in the context of the digitalization of HR processes. Thanks to this, as well as the use of such elements in the framework of personnel management as cloud technology, the ability to work remotely, big data, social media and artificial intelligence, companies, can increase their lead over competitors.
Spectrophotometric Methods for Simultaneous Determination of Rivaroxaban and Clopidogrel in Their Binary Mixture

Three rapid, accurate and very simple derivative spectrophotometric methods for RIV and CLP assay in their binary mixture and tablet dosage forms were developed. Method (I) is first derivative spectrophotometric method, derivative amplitudes were measured at the zero crossing wavelength of 289 and 249.5 nm for estimation of RIV and CLP, respectively. The linearity is over the range 2.0 - 20.0 μg/ml for RIV and 5.0 - 60.0 μg/ml for CLP with LOD of 0.211 and 0.361 μg mL-1 and LOQ of 0.641 and 1.095 μg mL-1 for RIV and CLP, respectively. Method (II) is ratio derivative spectrophotometric method. The ratio spectra of each drug were derived by dividing its spectra on a constant concentration of the other drug as a divisor. Derivative amplitudes were measured at 256 nm for RIV and at 214.5 nm for CLP over the same linearity range as the first method with LOD of 0.137 and 0.485 μg mL-1 and LOQ of 0.417 and 1.471 μg mL-1 for RIV and CLP, respectively. Method (III) is absorbance ratio method, absorbance of both drugs were recorded at two wavelengths λ1 (232) iso-absorptive point and λ2 (249) λmax of RIV. The final concentrations were obtained by applying the Q equations. The method was linear over the same concentration range as the first method with LOD of 0.272 and 0.485 μg mL-1 and LOQ of 0.826 and 1.471 μg mL-1 for RIV and CLP, respectively. The proposed methods were validated as per ICH guidelines. The proposed methods were successfully applied to both drugs analysis in their laboratory prepared co formulated tablet. Statistical comparison of the obtained results with those of the reference method show good agreement and confirm that there were no significant difference in the accuracy and precision between the proposed and reference one respectively.
Gamification and Gen Z in Higher Education: A Systematic Review of Literature

Research has found that the new age learner, Gen Z, is different from his/her predecessors, and hence, educators need new age pedagogical interventions to cater to this group of learners. With a change in the way the new age learner learns, the education system needs to revamp to incorporate tools that suit the needs of the learner. The paper reviews the use of gamification as a tool for motivation and engagement for Gen Z in higher education with the help of peer-reviewed research literature from research databases predominantly from Scopus and Web of Science. The purpose of this paper is to provide suggestions on how to create an engaging and meaningful learning environment in higher education for Gen Z by providing relevant insights on gamification with the help of secondary research. As this is an emerging field of study, this paper will help policymakers, educators, and academicians to design and implement relevant interventions to use gamification as an effective tool for Gen Z learners in the field of higher education.
Trust or Self-Determination: Understanding the Role of Tenured Faculty Empowerment and Job Satisfaction

ABSTRACT Faculty job satisfaction is critical to the success of students and institutions of higher education. Satisfaction of faculty has often been tied to the autonomy of faculty to complete their work with many faculty viewing themselves as independent contractors whose roles and identities are separate from the institution’s, but the implications of this mentality are scarcely understood. This study applies the empowerment framework which encompasses constructs like trust and self-determination to enhance understanding of the relationship between faculty’s perception of their level of empowerment and job satisfaction. Utilizing the empowerment framework, we provide insight on how the multiple dimensions of faculty empowerment are associated with job satisfaction. We employ a confirmatory factor analysis to develop a structural equation model (SEM) that can account for the relationships between empowerment and job satisfaction. Our sample includes associate and full professors (N = 913) from 20 states and findings indicate that the trust and personal consequence constructs within the empowerment framework are most salient. It is intended that this research will inform both faculty and higher education administrators on specific dimensions of empowerment which should be emphasized for achieving job satisfaction to promote the success of faculty and the students they serve.
Statistica Sinica Preprint No: SS-2019-0425

Permutation Test for Two-Sample and Signal of Abstract: Permutation tests are widely used in practice. However, these tests either need restrictive assumptions for the validity, or are not applicable to high-dimensional data. This paper considers permutation tests for high-dimensional mean comparison, where in order to get round those restrictions, the test statistics are calculated based on pseudo samples that are generated through a “binning” procedure. The corresponding permutation tests are proved to be asymptotically consistent. We also consider a related problem for signal identiﬁcation and establish the asymptotic properties. Simulation studies demonstrate favorable performance of our methods in comparison to existing tests. Finally, the proposed method is applied to a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for seven complex human diseases to identify possible single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the diseases.
Formation and evolution of mountainous aeolian sediments in the northern Tibet Plateau and their links to the Asian winter monsoon and westerlies since the Last Glacial Maximum

The production, transport, and deposition of dust has profound impacts and feedbacks on the regional and global environments. In parallel, the Tibet Plateau (TP) plays an important role in East Asian and global climate systems. Previous studies have shown that the dust can reach the plateau by long-distance transport from the westerlies and by short-distance transport from regional weathering. Here we present three new datasets in the Qilian Mountains of the northern TP, including two mountainous aeolian sedimentary sequences and a surface sample dataset. Proxies include grain size, magnetic susceptibility, mineral composition, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen. Data from surface samples indicate spatial gradient effects in altitude (from low to high) and latitude (from north to south), suggesting dust transport from the Gobi Desert to the plateau. The synthetic analysis of two aeolian sedimentary sequences and paleoclimate simulation data reveals that the northern TP can be a dust transport channel controlled mainly by the Asian winter monsoon and less influenced by the westerlies.
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes by bacteriocin-producing Bacillus velezensis isolated from silage

The aim of this study was to investigate the production of anti-Listeria bacteriocins by naturally occurring bacteria on silage and to characterize the most promising bacteriocin. The production of bacteriocins was evaluated by the spot-on-lawn method. The presence of interfering factors and the sensitivity to proteinase K were analyzed. The spectrum of activity was determined and the most promising bacteriocin-producing isolate was identified, being selected for the subsequent experiments. The antimicrobial peptide was extracted, analyzed regarding temperature and pH sensitivities, and purified. Of the 37 isolates evaluated, seven showed anti-Listeria activity. The presence of bacteriophages and production of acidic compounds were not detected. The selected antimicrobial compound was sensitive to proteinase K and the producing-bacterium was identified as Bacillus velezensis. The crude extract maintained the antimicrobial activity in different temperatures and pH conditions. In conclusion, the bacteriocin produced by Bacillus velezensis showed strong activity against Listeria monocytogenes, and great stability to elevated temperature and adverse pH, desirable features for future biotechnological applications.
EXTRACTING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE BIG FIVE MODEL AND PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Recently, researches focused on studying how the Big Five personality traits are manifested on social networks. These researches proved the presence of relationships between the Big Five Personality traits and various social networks features extracted from users’ generated content. In this paper, the relationships between the Big Five personality traits (Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and attributes of personality characteristics identified as the Personal Values and Human Needs are studied. These attributes or namely features, are extracted from users’ posts on social media. The relationship between the traits and proposed attributes is investigated through Pearson correlation coefficients. A dataset for 564 Twitter users is used in an experimental study, where findings proved the presence of relevant correlations between the traits and the proposed personality characteristic features. The Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism traits showed strong relations existence with all of the Personal Values features, while the Openness to experience and Neuroticism traits showed strong correlations with Liberty and Self-expression Needs features consecutively. The proposed study verified the effectiveness of the proposed Personal Values and Human Needs features as indicators for the Big Five personality traits, proving their ability for personality characteristics classification.
A 67.5μJ/Prediction Accelerator for Spiking Neural Networks in Image Segmentation

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) is promising to enable low power and high performance edge computing hardware design and have recently attracted attentions of researchers. Compared to Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), SNNs, which present more realistic brain-inspired computing models, are developed as an alternative to ANNs. However, the temporal primitive of SNNs causes irregular and repeated data accesses, leading to high latency and extra power consumption. In this work, we propose an efficient architecture for SNNs by exploiting event-based characteristics. A reconfigurable spiking neuron processing unit is proposed to support a variety of spike-layers. Furthermore, to reduce the cycles needed per frame, an efficient dataflow with fast-filtering mechanism is introduced to leverage the sparsity of discrete spikes. The results show that this design achieves 67.5 $\mu \text{J}$ /image prediction energy with a throughput of 2.2K FPS. The core size is 0.89 mm2 under 28-nm technology, with 90.98% computing hardware utilization and a competitive accuracy 97.10% on a driving dataset.
Correction in Bicinchoninic Acid (BCA) Absorbance Assay to Analyze Protein Concentration

Conducting the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay directly after a coupling reaction using (1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide) (EDC) and [Formula: see text]-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) chemistry produces significant errors. Here we present a correction for the quantification of gelatin in the supernatant (SN) following gelatin conjugation to polymer microparticles using EDC and NHS chemistry. Following the conjugation reaction, SNs from the gelatin-microparticle formation reaction are treated with BCA assay reagents and quantified for the percentage of unbound gelatin in the solution. NHS was found to interfere with the BCA assay reagents and is dependent on incubation time. It is found that the large concentration (500[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]g/mL) of NHS in the conjugation reaction interferes with the sensitivity of gelatin present in SNs. The interference from NHS requires a careful analysis to distinguish the BCA background absorbance from the sample absorbance. Using an NHS control solution can correct NHS interference and thus decrease the expensive iterations in gelatin quantification and enable accurate analysis of gelatin content. The accuracy of gelatin quantification is further improved by reducing the BCA assay incubation time to approximately 20[Formula: see text]min, compared with the recommended 30[Formula: see text]min. This re-assessment of BCA assay is important to avoid misestimating biases in bioconjugation processes.
Graphene-based mid-infrared photodetectors using metamaterials and related concepts

Graphene, a semi-metal with a gapless band structure, has been used in mid-infrared (MIR) photodetectors (PDs) for some time. However, these detectors often suffer from low responsivity due to the intrinsically low absorption and ultra-short carrier lifetime in graphene, large dark current, and low detectivity due to the semi-metallic nature of graphene. Over the past decade, much effort has been devoted to addressing these issues. A variety of metamaterials and related concepts has been employed to improve the detector responsivity by enhancing the graphene absorption and/or the carrier collection efficiency. Here, we provide an overview of the graphene MIR PDs with and without the use of approaches for responsivity enhancement. We focus our attention on the state-of-the-art graphene MIR PDs whose performance is improved by employing metamaterials and related concepts, including band structure engineering, the photogating effect, integration with plasmonic nanostructures and waveguides, the use of asymmetric plasmons, coupled plasmon–phonon polaritons, and small-twist-angle bilayer graphene. We conclude by providing possible directions for further performance improvement of graphene MIR PDs and a discussion on future applications of these detectors.
Citrate-Mediated Hydrometallurgical Lead Extraction and Integrated Electrochemical Recovery from Zinc Leaching Residue

The treatment and hydrometallurgical recovery of Pb from zinc leaching residue (ZLR), a waste stream generated by the zinc refining process, is proposed in this work. Leaching achieved complete extraction of Pb (140 mg/g) within 24 h contact time using a 0.8 M sodium citrate solution. The batch leaching process that operates at ambient temperature results in a pregnant leachate solution of dissolved lead citrate. Pb is recovered from the dissolved organometal complex as a precipitate of PbSO4 after chemical reaction in acidic conditions that are maintained through continuous membrane electrolysis. In addition, an alkaline buffer is generated at the cell cathode to regenerate the leachate, so that the recycled lixiviant can be used in consequent leaching steps. Characterization of the final product by XRD, ICP-AES, and Raman spectroscopy identified an amorphous PbSO4 phase with traces of lead citrate. The overall purity of Pb is 46 ± 4%, representing a 3.3 fold concentration of ZLR. The integrated process is capable to treat ZLR sustainably. It can resolve the need for landfilling the mineral tailing and treat historic dump sites, respecting the zero-waste rationale, while also recovering raw material from a secondary source.
Numerical Simulation of Pressure Fluctuation near an Expansion Corner in a Supersonic Flow of M = 3.01

The influence of the expansion corner on pressure fluctuation is an important subject in supersonic flow around high-speed vehicles. Past studies have clarified how the expansion corner alters the root-mean-square of the fluctuating pressure coefficient (Cprms) and the power spectral density (PSD) without considering how these fluctuating properties are related to compressible waves. In this paper, we use characteristics to determine the direction of wave propagation and identified three zones—U-zone, M-zone and D-zone—within which both Cprms and PSD are likely to display different behaviors across the boundary layer. The U-zone is upstream of the characteristic line of the second family and passing through the corner. The D-zone is downstream of the characteristic line of the first family and passing through the corner. The middle zone lies between the U-zone and D-zone. The results of Cprms and PSD at different layers within the boundary layer are obtained using numerical computation through a Detached Eddy Simulation (DES). It is found that in the U-zone and D-zone, both Cprms and PSD are the same in different layers within the boundary layer. In the M-zone, however, both Cprms and PSD may vary in different layers and this variation occurs in the high-frequency band upstream of the corner and mid-frequency band downstream of the corner. A feedback mechanism is tentatively used to explain the difference of spatial distribution of fluctuation properties inside the M-zone.
Factors influencing communication in collaborative design

Communication between people is commonly thought to play a major role in determining the success or failure of collaborative design projects. We conducted 8 weeks of observation and 62 interviews in three design companies. Our findings indicate that communication is blamed for causing many problems which are not of obvious technical nature. However, such problems are more often symptomatic of underlying factors related to information, representation, individual, team, and organisational issues. Examples of factors influencing communication at interfaces are people's understanding of the ‘sequence of tasks’ or ‘goals and objectives’ in the design process. With a system-theory informed conceptualisation of communication, we propose that awareness of such factors could assist design practitioners in targeting interventions and researchers in generating hypotheses about communication and design performance.
Mathematical Epidemiological Model of the Propagation and Prevention of Infectious Diseases Considering COVID-19 Vaccination

The duration of the necessity of current restrictions and preventive countermeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic is of great concern. While several previous epidemiological studies have discussed controlling the course of the epidemic with regard to social distancing, vaccination, care capacities, and future scenarios, we adopt an alternative approach to provide insights into the time scale of epidemic propagation in human populations. We show that the reproduction number modified by preventive countermeasures Rm implies a threshold R~m to reach the herd immunity level at time Th. While Th varies moderately for large Rm, it increases sharply around Rm=R~m, and Th is infinite below Rm=R~m. The transition region for this increase is minute, demonstrating that prevention of infectious diseases must consider the relatively asymptotic nature of their propagation, which varies unpredictably between steady transmission and explosive outbreaks. These results suggest the continuation of preventive countermeasures to suppress the transmission of COVID-19 for many years; if they were discontinued or reduced such that Rm exceeded R~m, the disease would be transmitted throughout the considered community, and the required herd immunity level would be reached within 250 days if Rm > 1.6. However, the implementation of vaccination programs could drastically alter this dynamic.