Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When Groups Fall Apart: Identifying Transnational Polarization During the Arab Uprisings

Abstract It is very difficult to know how international social linkages affect domestic ideological polarization because we can never observe polarization occurring both with and without international connections. To estimate this missing counterfactual, we employ a new statistical method based on Bayesian item-response theory that permits us to disaggregate polarization after the Arab Uprisings into domestic and transnational components. We collected a dataset of Twitter accounts in Egypt and Tunisia during the critical year of 2013, when the Egyptian military overthrew the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. We find that the coup increased retweets among Egyptian ideological allies by 50% each day following the coup and decreased cross-ideological retweets by 25%. Tunisian Twitter communities also showed stronger intragroup retweeting although at lower levels than in Egypt. Counter-intuitively, our model shows that the additional polarization in Tunisia after the coup appears to have dampened further polarization among Islamists in Egypt.
Examining the Input and Output Linkages in Agricultural Production Systems

This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of the agricultural sector’s resource allocation and production decisions. This paper uses the differential systems with quasi-fixity to evaluate the complete agricultural production system, which examines the input and output linkages in terms of elasticities. The differential systems are estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation technique based on the two-step profit-maximizing procedure in theory. The results reveal that livestock production requires more intermediate inputs, but crop production depends on all the inputs, such as labor, capital, and intermediate inputs. In addition, the results show that input demand is inelastic, indicating that the agricultural sector has little flexibility in adjusting the demand for inputs in response to changes in input prices. Substitutable relationships among labor, capital, and intermediate inputs exist, which may reduce the pressures on production costs when input prices rise. Regarding the quasi-fixed input, land expansion changes the composition of labor and intermediate inputs, showing that the agricultural sector reduces the intensive margin when it pursues the extensive margin. Furthermore, the results show that agricultural supply is not very responsive to the respective price changes. Along with the inelastic output supply, there exist substitutable relationships between livestock and crop supply, showing that relative price changes can alter output composition in supply. The agricultural sector also reallocates more land areas into crop production rather than livestock production.
An Experimental Model of the Collect/Report Paradigm

In the Big Data community, the “Map/Reduce Paradigm” is one of the key enabling approaches for meeting the continuously increasing demands on computing resources imposed by massive data sets. Today it is implemented in many open source projects. The popularity of Map/Reduce is due to its high scalability, fault-tolerance, simplicity and independence from the programming language or the data storage system. At the same time, Map/Reduce faces a number of obstacles when dealing with Big Data. A possible solution of them may be the Collect/Report Paradigm (CRP) and Natural Language Addressing (NLA) approach. It is suitable for storing Big Data in large information bases located on different storage systems – from personal computers up to cloud servers. An experimental Model of the CRP is presented in this paper. An experimental implementation of the CRP to process and store data is outlined. The structures of the input and output data are in the form of RDF triplets. The ease of implementation of this model and the benefits of its use are discussed.
Chemical amplification method for the determination of chromium at trace levels

A highly sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of 40-400 ng of chromium(III) is described. This is based on the oxidation of chromium(III) with potassium periodate in alkaline medium to form chromate and iodate. After masking the excess periodate using ammonium molybdate at pH 3, the formed iodate was treated with iodide and acid to generate iodine. The iodine was extracted into benzene and was stripped to aqueous phase by equilibrating the organic layer with sodium sulphite solution. The stripped iodide was oxidised to iodate by bromine water and the excess bromine was destroyed using sulphosalicylic acid. The formed iodate was used to generate nitrite on treatment with hydroxylamine. The generated nitrite was determined by diazo coupling reaction with p-nitroaniline and NEDA. The azo dye has an absorption maximum at 545 nm (e = 7.8 x 10 5 L. mol -1 cm -1 ) and the coefficient of variation is 3.2% for ten determinations of chromium at the 300 ng level. Selectivity was achieved by prior extraction of chromium(VI) species as chromyl chloride into methyl isobutyl ketone. Chromyl chloride was stripped back into sodium sulphite solution and after boiling off the excess SO 2 with acid chromium(III), was determined.
Chemical Composition and Insecticidal Activity of the Essential Oil of Cyperus rotundus Rhizomes Against Liposcelis bostrychophila (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae)

Abstract During our screening program for new agrochemicals from the local wild plants and Chinese medicinal herbs, the essential oil of Cyperus rotundus rhizomes was found to possess strong insecticidal activities against the booklice, Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel. Essential oil of C. rotundus rhizomes was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry. A total of 35 components of the essential oil of C. rotundus were identified. The main components of the essential oil were α-cyperone (29.38%), cyperene (13.97%), caryophyllene oxide (6.71%) and β-selinene (6.47%). Bioactivities-directed chromatographic separation on repeated silica gel columns led to the isolation of two compounds: cyperene and α-cyperone. α-Cyperone exhibited pronounced contact toxicity against L. bostrychophila (LC50 = 41.32 μg/cm2) and was more toxic than cyperene (LC50= 50.08 μg/cm2) while the essential oil acting against the booklice showed an LC50 value of 102.11 μg/cm2. These results suggest that the essential oil of C. rotundus rhizome and the two isolated constituent compounds may be used in grain storage to combat insect pests.
Derivation of Z-R relationship parameter for Alor Setar radar using Traditional Matching Method (TMM)

The rainfall measurement can be done by using rain gauge and weather radar instruments. However, weather radar does not measure the rainfall depth directly as contrary to rain gauge. Therefore, an empirical relationship between reflectivity (Z) and rainfall rate (R) which is commonly known as reflectivity-rainfall (Z-R) relationship consisting of parameter A and exponential b (Z= A·Rb ), usually used to convert reflectivity data into rainfall rate for a radar. Presently, the Z-R relationship parameters proposed by Marshall and Palmer (1947) used in Malaysia is seem no longer suitable for Malaysia condition. Hence, a new relationship should be developed. The reflectivity data from year 2006 to year 2007 at Alor Setar radar and gauge rainfall data from 14 rain gauge in the Northern of Peninsular Malaysia were calibrated. By using the Traditional Matching Method (TMM), a new parameter was developed for Alor Setar radar which located in Northern Peninsular Malaysia. By minimizing the errors, a Mean Field Bias Correction (MFB) technique was apply to all selected parameter in this study with adjusting the value A and fixed the value b. As a results, new climatological Z-R relationship (Z=14.30R 1.9) was obtained. To justify the new relationship, validation analysis has been performed by using the five statistical measure. It was found that the validation analysis has given the best results of Mean Error (ME), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Bias and Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r) with value of 0.00, 0.00, 7.54, 1.00 and 0.85 respectively. Concluded that, it is suitable for radar rainfall estimation in the Northern Region of Peninsular Malaysia.
Childcare Providers’ Nominations of Preschool Children at Risk for Mental Health Problems: Does it Discriminate Well Compared to the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF)?

ABSTRACT Childcare providers are vanguards in identifying children at risk for mental health problems. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the accuracy of childcare providers’ nominations of children at risk for mental health problems against a well-established comparator, the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form. Findings from the present study, including 1430 children aged one to six years old and 169 childcare providers from 57 childcare centers, indicates that nominations in the form of concerns should be taken seriously and followed up with additional screening or assessment and consideration for referral. However, nominations also created a considerable portion of false positives. These results suggest that when childcare providers become concerned about a child, it may be beneficial to apply a psychometrically sound screening instrument to decrease the rate of false positive nominations. This may help childcare providers to act more promptly by confirming or discarding their initial concerns.
Women on boards of directors and firm performance: the mediation of employment downsizing

Abstract This study contributes to the literature of women on boards of directors by showing how female board representation affects the board’s involvement in the strategy of employment downsizing, and whether the downsizing strategy mediates female directors’ influence on firm performance. We examine data of Taiwanese 1329 manufacturing firms over the 1996–2017 period and apply dynamic panel methods to deal with the endogeneity problems contained in the mediation model. Evidence on the gross effect of women on boards supports our contention that in Taiwanese socio-cultural context, the cognitive frames and human capital female directors bring to boards can improve the firms’ accounting-based performance; however, investors’ ingrained bias against women may dilute the positive impact and lead to unfavorable stock market reaction to the firms with female directors. Focusing on the indirect mediating effect, our results indicate that perhaps because female directors’ leadership style and core values provide boards with more stakeholder-oriented perspectives, the firms with more women directors tend to implement less downsizing, and such talent-retaining strategy is beneficial to firm performance. This positive indirect effect is investors’ bias-free, that is, women on boards can be leveraged for higher accounting returns and stock market valuation through their involvement in downsizing.
CO$_{2}$ adsorption behavior and kinetics on chemically modified activated carbons

CO$_{2}$ adsorption capacities of activated carbon-based adsorbents subjected to different treatments, such as HNO$_{3}$ oxidation, air oxidation, alkali impregnation, and heat treatment under helium gas atmosphere, were determined by gravimetric analyses and reported previously by our group. In the current work, the experimental adsorption isotherms of these modified activated carbon samples were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin--Radushkevich (D-R) models. The best fits were obtained to the D-R equation, indicating competitive or multilayer CO$_{2}$ adsorption occurring in the micropores of the adsorbents. Air oxidation followed by alkali impregnation led to the highest micropore volume, ranging between 0.259 and 0.298 g.CO$_{2}$/g.adsorbent, which resulted in the highest CO$_{2}$ adsorption capacity of 8.87{\%} at 1 atm and 25 $^{\circ}$C. The CO$_{2}$ adsorption kinetic plots revealed a two-step adsorption process for all the adsorbents: a relatively fast kinetic region phase followed by a slow one until reaching the equilibrium. Pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetics explain adsorption for the kinetic region for most of the samples. When the whole adsorption data range is considered, the adsorption cannot be explained by any model at 25 $^{\circ}$C due to the complex nature of the adsorbents, but the adsorption behavior fits rather well to pseudo-first order kinetics at 120 $^{\circ}$C for the alkali-impregnated samples.
Epitaxial NbN/AlN/NbN tunnel junctions on Si substrates with TiN buffer layers

We have developed epitaxial NbN/AlN/NbN tunnel junctions on Si (100) substrates with a TiN buffer layer. A 50-nm-thick (200)-oriented TiN thin film was introduced as the buffer layer for epitaxial growth of NbN/AlN/NbN trilayers on Si substrates. The fabricated NbN/AlN/NbN junctions demonstrated excellent tunneling properties with a high gap voltage of 5.5 mV, a large IcRN product of 3.8 mV, a sharp quasiparticle current rise with a ΔVg of 0.4 mV, and a small subgap leakage current. The junction quality factor Rsg/RN was about 23 for the junction with a Jc of 47 A/cm2 and was about 6 for the junction with a Jc of 3.0 kA/cm2. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy observations showed that the NbN/AlN/NbN trilayers were grown epitaxially on the (200)-orientated TiN buffer layer and had a highly crystalline structure with the (200) orientation.
Anti-proliferative and apoptosis inducing activity of Calophyllum inophyllum L. oil extracts on C6 glioma cell line

Anti-proliferative of Abstract Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most lethal type of brain tumors. Current treatment methods of GBM including radiotherapy and chemotherapy are not sufficient to combat this disease and there is a great need to develop new treatment approaches. Calophyllum inophyllum L. is a polyphenol rich plant with wide biological activities. The aim of this study was to investigate cytotoxic, anti-proliferative and apoptotic activity of C. inophyllum oil (CIO) extracts on the C6 glioma cell line to determine its potential use in cancer treatment. Treatment of C6 glioma cells with CIO extracts for 24 and 48 h were resulted in a significant decrease in cell viability with IC 50 values of 0.22% and 0.082%, respectively. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling of CIO extract treated C6 glioma cells showed cell proliferation decreased to 55.6% and 30.3% for 24 and 48 h. Percentage of apoptotic cells after CIO extract treatment were found to reach 68.8% after 48 h. Analysis of mRNA expression levels of key genes involved in apoptosis pathway showed that CIO extract treatment induces both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways on C6 glioma cells. Findings of this study showed that CIO extracts are promising in development of new treatment strategies for glioblastoma.
The Authentication of Whey Protein Powder Ingredients and Understanding Factors Regulating Astringency in Acidic Whey Protein Beverages to Estimate Astringency by Infrared Spectroscopy---An Instrumental Approach

ii Acknowledgments . iv Vita . vi List of Tables . xi List of Figures . xiii Chapter 1: Literature Review . 1 1.1 A Review of whey protein processing and functionality . 1 1.1.1 Whey and whey protein fractions . 1 1.1.2 Whey protein processing and production . 5 1.1.3 Whey protein functionality . 14 1.1. 4 Whey protein application . 21 1.1. 5 Whey protein analytical methods . 22 1.2 Astringency and mechanisms in various food . 26 1.2.1 Terminology of astringency . 26 1.2.2 Mechanisms of astringency in four main groups of astringent compounds . 27 1.2.3 Exploration of mechanisms of astringency caused by whey protein . 33 viii 1.3 The application of Infrared Spectroscopy (IR) on whey protein. 35 Chapter 2: Authentication of Whey Protein Powders by Combining Infrared Spectroscopy and Pattern Recognition Analysis . 40 2.1 Abstract . 40 2.2 Introduction . 41 2.3 Materials and methods . 43 2.3.1 Whey protein sample . 43 2.3.2 Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) . 43 2.3.3 Multivariate classification analysis . 44 2.4 Results and discussion . 46 2.5 Conclusion . 55 Chapter 3: A Novel Application of FT-IR Technique Combined with Chemometrics in Analyzing and Predicting the Astringency of Acidic Whey Protein Beverages . 56 3.1 Abstract . 56 3.2 Introduction . 57 3.3 Materials and methods . 59 3.3.1 Whey protein sample . 59 3.3.2 Astringency prediction . 60
Observer-Predictor-Based Predictive Torque Control of Induction Machine for Robustness Improvement

In the finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) of induction motors, the mismatched motor parameters will inevitably lead to model predictive errors, and then reduce the control performance. At present, the evaluation methods of the prediction errors caused by mismatched parameters and of improving robustness have become the research hotspots of FCS-MPC of induction motors. In this article, an observer-predictor-based predictive torque control of induction machine is proposed in order to improve the prediction accuracy. In the stator current prediction equation, this article abandons the traditional open-loop prediction equation and proposes a closed-loop stator current prediction equation. In the stator flux prediction equation, this article abandons the traditional stator flux prediction model based on voltage model, and proposes a discrete hybrid prediction model combining voltage model and current model, where the proportional-integral regulator is used to switch the voltage model to the current model. Second, the stability and parameter design principles of the closed-loop stator current prediction model and the closed-loop stator flux prediction model are analyzed. Finally, the experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the traditional method in dynamic performance, steady-state performance, and parameter robustness.
A Review of Brucellosis: A Recent Major Outbreak in Lebanon

Brucella infection remains the world’s most common bacterial zoonosis, with over half a million new cases annually, which brought renewed attention of this neglected disease. This attention is highlighted in this review manuscript, reporting worldwide outbreaks and introducing the 5th major severely prominent worldwide outbreak since 2016 which occurred in Lebanon. In this outbreak, most recent Brucella incidence was mainly observed in the Bekaa governorate with around 70% of the cases reported during the summer and spring. Furthermore, in line with the Lebanese alimentary habits, brucellosis is commonly diagnosed in adults aged between 20 and 60 years old. This paper tailors the first comprehensive One Health approach for the control of Brucellosis in Lebanon. Herein, a broad review to shed light on the complexity of Brucellosis discussing: the etiology; taxonomy; pathogenesis; epidemiology and geographic distribution of the disease; sources and transmission in both animals and humans; clinical manifestation; chemical treatment and its risk; and finally disease prevention.
Effects of privacy concern, risk, and information control in a smart tourism destination

Abstract Smart tourism destinations are growing, with the use and implementation of technology to make travel more enjoyable. Still, the tourist's information privacy concerns generated by the big data available to the destination and service providers is a significant problem for smart tourism, which can affect the sustainability and economic benefit of the smart tourism destination. This study investigates privacy concern, perceived risk, control of information, service provider trust in a smart tourism destination, and the resulting behavioural intentions. The results were obtained using an online survey of 384 respondents that have visited the smart tourism destination Dubai. The results indicated that use context as an environmental factor helps mitigate the tourists' negative privacy concerns and perceived risk towards trust in a smart tourism destination. Furthermore, previous privacy violation experience as a personal factor was negatively related to trust in the smart tourism destination and the service providers. The study provides meaningful contributions on smart tourism to destination management organizations (DMO's) and service providers on what influences and mitigates the privacy concern of the tourists using mobile application location-based services available in a smart tourism destination, building on the social cognitive theory.
How Does Cultural Distance Matter in Long-term Value Creation of Cross-border Acquisitions?

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of cultural distance on long-term value creation for Chinese acquirers based on a sample of Chinese cross-border acquisition (CBA) activities from 1999 to 2017. Our finding suggests that the long-term value creation after CBA is impeded by a greater cultural distance, and such a negative correlation is more prominent among acquirers in service or strategic emerging industries. However, this negative relationship can be mitigated by the capability of prior international acquisition experience in culturally similar countries or top managers’ overseas education experience. Through drawing upon institution-, resource/capability- and industry-based views, this article takes a step toward understanding the role of cultural distance in emerging-market enterprises' (EMEs)’ international acquisitions in the long run.
Expression analysis of miRNAs and their targets related to salt stress in Solanum lycopersicum H-2274

Abstract The microRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small non-coding RNAs found in both plants and animals. Their functions and target genes have been identified in many plant species. It has been shown that miRNAs have crucial roles in stress responses of plants as much as other defence mechanisms. Throughout abiotic stress, miRNAs regulate their target genes and take part in signalling pathways. In this study, we evaluated the expression profiles of miR156, miR170, miR171, miR395, miR398 and miR845, which have been shown to be related with stress, and their target genes in different tissues of Solanum lycopersicum H-2274 plants under salt stress. We applied 100 mmol/L NaCl to tomato plants for one week and performed quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis. The results that stood out belonged to miR156 both in root and stem tissues and miR398 in stem tissues. Interestingly the expression profiles of these miRNAs and their target genes were similar. These findings show that there is a complex stress response mechanism still waiting to be deciphered. Our findings could provide valuable information to understand the function of miRNAs in stress response mechanisms of plants.
A SIMPLE MATRIX APPROACH FOR COMPUTING THE EQUIVALENT RESISTANCE AND UNKNOWN COMPONENTS IN RESISTOR NETWORKS

A method is presented for computing the equivalent resistance and the unknown components of simple series and parallel resistor networks. The approach consists in taking the product of a simple 2 × 2 matrix (N − 1) times, where N is the total number of components in the network. The matrix approach originates from the study of continued fractions. Numerical computations only require an algorithm that handles matrix multiplication.