Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Subjective Model of Human Decision Making Based on Quantum Decision Theory

Computer modeling of human decision making is of large importance for, e.g., sustainable transport, urban development, and online recommendation systems. In this paper we present a model for predicting the behavior of an individual during a binary game under different amounts of risk, gain, and time pressure. The model is based on Quantum Decision Theory (QDT), which has been shown to enable modeling of the irrational and subjective aspects of the decision making, not accounted for by the classical Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT). Experiments on two different datasets show that our QDT-based approach outperforms both a CPT-based approach and data driven approaches such as feed-forward neural networks and random forests.
Amine Vapor Sensing with Silver Mesowires

Silver mesowires with diameters ranging from 150 to 950 nm and lengths of 100 μm or more were prepared by electrochemical step edge decoration. Upon exposure to ammonia (NH3) vapor, ensembles of these mesowires showed a resistance increase, ΔR/Ro, that was large (up to 10,000%), fast (<5 s), and reversible. The vapor of liquid amines, including pyridine and trimethylamine, produced a similar but slower (1 min) response. Hydrogen sulfide caused a large, irreversible resistance increase and carbon monoxide, dioxygen, hydrocarbons, argon, and water, caused no change in resistance for exposures of up to 10 seconds. Exposure to NH3 also induced unexpectedly large resistance increases for mesowires of copper and platinum but metal films showed a maximum ΔR/Ro of < 5%, just as reported previously. Atomic force microscopy analysis of individual silver wires suggests that the increased resistance induced by NH3 exposure was concentrated at a minority (<10%) of the interparticle boundaries present along the axes of.
HYPOGLYCEMIC EFFECT OF PHOEBE LACEOLATA OALLOXAIDUCED DIABETIC MICE

Summary The present study was based on the antidiabetic effect of ethanolic extract of Phoebe lanceolata stem bark. Swiss albino mice were administered ethanolic P. lanceolata stem bark extract orally at doses of 100, 200 and 500 mg/kg, p.o. Alloxan (60 mg/kg, i.v .) was used to increase the blood glucose level in experimental mice. From 1 st to 18 th h significant hypoglycemic effect was observed with maximum effect at 18 th h. Glibenclamide, an oral hypoglycemic agent was used as
A Novel Red‐Blood‐Cell‐Shaped Pectin‐Oligochitosan Hydrogel System

To develop a cation-free hydrogel system that is capable of encapsulation and has a specifi c morphology is of particular biological and medical interest for perfecting drug delivery methods and cellular encapsulation. In this study, OC was used as a crosslinker to form a pectin hydrogel for the fi rst time. Briefl y, pectin solutions were extruded into the OC solution where hydrogel capsules successfully formed ( Scheme 1 ). Ionic interaction is the major force that contributes to the pectin–OC hydrogel formation, which is a single-step process. Pectin and chitosan have complementary charges and could form polyelectrolytes when at the proper pH. The gel formation process highly depends on charge density and the degree of ionization of both pectin and OC. Furthermore, the hydrogel morphology strongly depends on concentrations of both pectin and OC. [ 19 ]
Spin-density functional theory : Some open problems and application to inhomogeneous heisenberg models

Spin-density functional theory (SDFT) is the most widely implemented and applied formulation of density functional theory. However, it is still finding novel applications, and occasionally encounters unexpected problems. In this article, we first briefly describe a few of the latter, related to issues such as nonuniqueness, noncollinearity, and currents. We then turn to an example of the former, namely SDFT for the Heisenberg model. It is shown that time-honored concepts of Coulomb DFT, such as the local-density approximation, can be applied to this (and other) model Hamiltonians, as well, once the concept of “density” has been suitably reinterpreted. Local-density-type approximations for the inhomogeneous Heisenberg model are constructed. Numerical applications to finite-size and impurity systems demonstrate that DFT is a computationally efficient and reasonably accurate alternative to conventional methods of statistical mechanics for the Heisenberg model. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005
The Lepidoptera Galleria mellonella "in vivo" model: a preliminary pilot study on oral administration of Lactobacillus plantarum (now Lactiplantibacillus plantarum).

This work aims to assess the in vitro adhesion of two type strains of Lactobacillus plantarum (ATCC 14917 and ATCC BAA-793) (now Lactiplantibacillus plantarum). The experiments were conducted both in vitro on colon cells lines (Caco-2 and HT-29) and in vivo by adopting Galleria mellonella, a well-known alternative preclinical model. Data comparison obtained from in vitro and in vivo assays showed that adhesion performance is comparable in both models. Moreover, the type strain BAA-793, originally isolated from human saliva, showed enhanced adhesion performance, either in vitro to the low mucus-producing cell line (HT-29) or in vivo into the G mellonella gut. These results suggest a possible adaptation of this strain to its ecological niche compared to ATCC 14917. This preliminary pilot study, once again, showed the reliability of G. mellonella oral administration model as a first-line screening tool for in vitro to in vivo translation. Also, for the first time, the permanence of Lactobacillus strains into G. mellonella gut has been reported, reinforcing the claim that this preclinical model can be used, together with standardised in vitro and in vivo procedures already accepted across the community, for the evaluation and investigation of new probiotic potentials.
Correlates of and changes in aerobic physical activity and strength training before and after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: findings from the HEBECO study

Objectives Understanding changes in moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity (MVPA) and muscle-strengthening activity (MSA) at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and their correlates (socio-demographics, health characteristics, living and exercise conditions and pre-pandemic MVPA/MSA) can inform interventions. Design A cross-sectional analysis of retrospective and concurrent data on MVPA/MSA. Setting An online survey in the UK. Participants 2657 adults (weighted n=2442, 53.6% women) participating in the baseline survey (29 April 2020–14 June 2020) of the HEalth BEhaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic (HEBECO) study. Primary and secondary outcome measures Meeting WHO-recommended levels for MVPA/MSA/both (vs meeting neither) during the first lockdown and changes in MVPA/MSA from before to since the COVID-19 pandemic following stratification for pre-pandemic MVPA/MSA. Results A third of adults maintained (30.4%), decreased (36.2%) or increased (33.4%) MVPA. For MSA, the percentages were 61.6%, 18.2% and 20.2%, respectively. MVPA increased or decreased by an average of 150 min/week and 219 min/week, respectively, and MSA by 2 days/week. Meeting both MSA+MVPA recommendations since COVID-19 (vs meeting neither) was positively associated with meeting MVPA+MSA before COVID-19 (adjusted OR (aOR)=16.11, 95% CI 11.24 to 23.07) and education: post-16 years of age (aOR=1.57, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.17), and negatively associated with having obesity (aOR=0.49, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.73), older age (65+ years vs ≤34 years; aOR=0.53, 95% CI 0.32 to 0.87) and annual household income of <50 000 GBP (aOR=0.65, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.91). The odds for decreasing MVPA were lower for white ethnicity (aOR=0.62, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.86), education: post-16 years of age (aOR=0.73, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.91) and access to garden/balcony (aOR=0.75, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.94), and were higher for those living in total isolation (aOR=3.81, 95% CI 2.33 to 6.23), with deteriorated psychological well-being (aOR=1.40, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.71) and conditions limiting physical activity (aOR=1.74, 95% CI 1.27 to 2.39). The odds for decreasing MSA were higher for having overweight (aOR=1.88, 95% CI 1.39 to 2.55), obesity (aOR=23.38, 95% CI 2.23 to 5.14) and being employed (aOR=1.81, 95% CI 1.34 to 2.46). Conclusion Aerobic and strength training were differently impacted during the first UK lockdown, with poorer outcomes associated with older age, lower education and higher body mass index. Targeted interventions may be required to avoid pandemic-related inequities in physical activity.
Unsupervised Legal Concept Extraction from Indian Case Documents using Statutes

Finding legal concepts pertaining to court case judgement documents, is an important task in the field of legal data mining. These concepts are also popularly termed as catchwords/keywords. Existing methods for the task lack the ability to extract legal concepts that may not explicitly be mentioned in the document, but present abstractly. This is because the methods do not incorporate legal domain specific information. In this paper, we propose the use of Statutes to solve this task. Evaluation on a set of 1200 Indian Supreme Court Case Documents suggest the effectiveness of our approach, and opens the possibilities of exploring more in this direction.
On the Evaluation of Data Fusion for Information Retrieval

Data Fusion combines document rankings from multiple systems into one, in order to improve retrieval effectiveness. Many approaches to this task have been proposed in the literature, and these have been evaluated in various ways. This paper examines a number of such evaluations, to extract commonalities between approaches. Some drawbacks of the prevailing evaluation strategies are then identified, and suggestions made for more appropriate evaluation of data fusion.
Analytical chemistry in a liquid film/droplet

The measurement of nitrogen dioxide at the parts-perbillion level is described. The experimental arrangement consists of two optical fibers placed on opposite sides of and in contact with a liquid film (14-57 μL in volume) supported on a U-shaped wire guide and two tubular conduits (one of which constitutes the means for the delivery of the liquid). Light from a green (555 nm) light-emitting diode enters the liquid film, composed of Griess-Saltzman reagent The transmitted light is measured by a referenced photodetection arrangement Sample gas flows past the droplet at a low flow rate (typically 0.10-0.25 L/min). The response is proportional to the sampling period and the analyte concentration. The limit of detection for this nonoptimized arrangement is estimated to be <10 ppb by volume for a 5 min sample. Some unusual characteristics are observed. The initial absorbance, when most of the analyte/reaction product is still near the surface, is higher than that when the content of the droplet is fully mixed. The signal depends on the sample flow rate in a nonmonotonic fashion, first increasing and then decreasing with increasing sampling rate ; the specific chemistry involved in the collection and determination of NO 2 may be responsible.
Openfinger: Towards a Combination of Discriminative Power of Fingerprints and Finger Vein Patterns in Multimodal Biometric System

Abstract Multimodal biometric systems are nowadays considered as state of the art subject. Since identity establishment in everyday situations has become very significant and rather difficult, there is a need for reliable means of identification. Multimodal systems establish identity based on more than one biometric trait. Hence one of their most significant advantages is the ability to provide greater recognition accuracy and resistance against the forgery. Many papers have proposed various combinations of biometric traits. However, there is an inferior number of solutions demonstrating the use of fingerprint and finger vein patterns. Our main goal was to contribute to this particular field of biometrics. In this paper, we propose OpenFinger, an automated solution for identity recognition utilizing fingerprint and finger vein pattern which is robust to finger displacement as well as rotation. Evaluation and experiments were conducted using SDUMLA-HMT multimodal database. Our solution has been implemented using C++ language and is distributed as a collection of Linux shared libraries. First, fingerprint images are enhanced by means of adaptive filtering where Gabor filter plays the most significant role. On the other hand, finger vein images require the bounding rectangle to be accurately detected in order to focus just on useful biometric pattern. At the extraction stage, Level-2 features are extracted from fingerprints using deep convolutional network using a popular Caffe framework. We employ SIFT and SURF features in case of finger vein patterns. Fingerprint features are matched using closed commercial algorithm developed by Suprema, whereas finger vein features are matched using OpenCV library built-in functions, namely the brute force matcher and the FLANN-based matcher. In case of SIFT features score normalization is conducted by means of double sigmoid, hyperbolic tangens, Z-score and Min-Max functions. On the side of finger veins, the best result was obtained by a combination of SIFT features, brute force matcher with scores normalized by hyperbolic tangens method. In the end, fusion of both biometric traits is done on a score level basis. Fusion was done by means of sum and mean methods achieving 2.12% EER. Complete evaluation is presented in terms of general indicators such as FAR/FRR and ROC.
Analysis of irregularity measures of zigzag, rhombic, and honeycomb benzenoid systems

Abstract Molecular topology is a key to determine the physiochemical aspects of the molecular structure. To determine the degree of irregularity of a certain molecular structure or a network has been a key source of interest for the molecular topologists as it provides an insight of the key features that are used to guess the properties of the structures. In this article, we are interested in formulating closed forms of irregularity measures of some popular benzenoid systems, namely, zigzag, rhombic, and honeycomb benzenoid systems. We also compared our results graphically and concluded that benzenoid system among above is more asymmetric than the others.
A new phenyl alkyl ester and a new combretin triterpene derivative from Combretum fragrans F. Hoffm (Combretaceae) and antiproliferative activity

Abstract This work concerns the isolation and structure elucidation of compounds obtained from the extract of leaves and stem bark of Combretum fragrans F. Hoffm. Both extracts and some isolated compounds were tested for antiproliferative activity on glioblastoma (U87MG and C6 cells) and prostate (PC-3 cells) cancer cell lines using XTT (2,3-bis[2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl]-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxyanilide inner salt) assay. The dichloromethane/methanol (1:1) extract of the leaves led to the isolation of two new compounds such as fragransinate (1) and combretin C (2), alongside five known compounds such as combretin A (3), belamcanidin (4), cirsilineol (5), velutin (6), and a mixture of β-sitosterol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (10a) and stigmasterol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (10b), whereas the methanol extract of the stem bark led to the isolation of three known compounds betulinic acid (7), bellericagenin B (8), and a mixture of β-sitosterol (9a) and stigmasterol (9b). The structure of compounds was elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry data. The methanol extract of the stem bark showed a powerful antiproliferative activity on all tested cells, as well as the extract of leaves which also showed important cytotoxicity effect. Compound (3) showed good antiproliferative activity particularly on U87MG and PC-3 cells, whereas compound (5) exhibits moderated activity. Compounds (2) and (8) were not active on all tested cells.
Social position in a peer group of school-aged boys and selected biological parameters

Abstract The period of adolescence includes biological, psychological and social maturation. All these processes complement and affect each other. The ultimate goal is the transition from childhood to adulthood which enables individuals to become socialized beings, who are psychologically mature and able to pass on their genetic inheritance. In the process of reaching full maturity, adolescents are exposed to both positive and negative stimuli the socio-cultural environment. In the process of socialization, the influence of peers, and the maturing into social roles is important. At the same time, adolescents mature biologically. A holistic understanding of the sequence of changes that occur during adolescence foregrounds the significance of biology in informing emotions and cognition. Research conducted on adolescents from Wrocław, Poland, showed the impact that physical development plays on social development within a school peer group. Adolescents with a slower pace of maturity, lower BMI, and lower body height achieved the lowest social status in the group’s hierarchy. These adolescents also became victims of peer rejection. The role of scapegoat assigned to them highlighted and completed the symptomatic rejection process, which highlighted negative social group behaviours. In contrast, their peers from the same classes, with higher biological parameters, became leaders in the school’s social groups. Furthermore, sociometric ‘stars’, leaders and gray eminences, compared to scapegoats, achieved maturity faster, and had greater body height and higher BMI among all age groups.
A multi-power and multi-splitting inner-outer iteration for PageRank computation

Abstract As an effective and possible method for computing PageRank problem, the inner-outer (IO) iteration has attracted wide interest in the past few years since it was first proposed by Gleich et al. (2010). In this paper, we present a variant of the IO iteration, which is based on multi-step power and multi-step splitting and is denoted by MPMIO. The description and convergence are discussed in detail. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Homeschooling mothers: Precarious by choice?

Abstract This article presents the findings of a study on homeschooling in Czechia. It focuses on the gender aspects of this uncommon educational decision. Based on forty-three individual interviews with homeschooling parents, the article’s unifying thread is interest in understanding how mothers are involved in the decision to homeschool, and how the practice is embedded in gendered relationships within the society. We explore the results from two perspectives. First, we consider how the choice to homeschool lies simultaneously in embracing and opposing cultural imperatives of good mothering. Second, we explore the precarious status of homeschooling mothers in relation to economic independence. By shedding light on individual choice within social structures, we situate the practice of homeschooling within the gender inequalities of today’s society.
Searching for similarities in EU corporate income taxes for their harmonization

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to answer the question whether, despite the differentiation of the corporate income tax in the European Union, there are similarity patterns allowing for the harmonization of the bases of this tax. The analysed CIT static data both quantitative and qualitative concerns the years 2018 and 2020. The method of hierarchical cluster analysis allowed a grouping of EU countries according to their similarities. It also indicated the greatest tax differences between EU member states. In turn the affinity analysis made it possible to distinguish groups of countries which are similar in terms of CIT with the simultaneous identification of a pattern. Results show that despite significant differences in tax rates some EU states show convergence in tax bases. The geographical criterion still plays an important role in determining CIT structure and tax incentives are one of the tools that may be used in the approximation of the bases.
Social Acceptance and Section 377: A Case Study of Transgender People in Jammu City

Abstract The Supreme Court of India recently decriminalized section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to outlaw the unfair violence and discrimination against transgender people. The paper argues that despite the legal acceptance of Section 377, the discrimination and social exclusion of transgender people continue in the Indian public sphere. The method of Interpretative Phenomenological Approach has been used to analyze the interviews of five transgender people from Jammu city. The findings suggest patterns and relationships within the data which are useful for understanding various ways in which transgender people negotiate and contemplate their lives outside the known social network they resort to. By analyzing the interpretations of selected transgender people, the study reveals that they bear the brunt of social and economic exclusion due to their gender identity on day-to-day basis.
How to Handle Health-Related Small Imbalanced Data in Machine Learning?

Abstract When discussing interpretable machine learning results, researchers need to compare them and check for reliability, especially for health-related data. The reason is the negative impact of wrong results on a person, such as in wrong prediction of cancer, incorrect assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, or missing early screening of dyslexia. Often only small data exists for these complex interdisciplinary research projects. Hence, it is essential that this type of research understands different methodologies and mindsets such as the Design Science Methodology, Human-Centered Design or Data Science approaches to ensure interpretable and reliable results. Therefore, we present various recommendations and design considerations for experiments that help to avoid over-fitting and biased interpretation of results when having small imbalanced data related to health. We also present two very different use cases: early screening of dyslexia and event prediction in multiple sclerosis.
Exploring Physiological Linkage in Same-Sex Male Couples

We explore physiological linkage (i.e., covariation of physiological channels between interacting partners; PL) among 34 same-sex male couples. Interbeat interval, an indicator of cardiovascular arousal, was collected across four conversational contexts in the lab: (1) a baseline period that did not involve conversation, (2) a conversation about body image, (3) a conversation about health goals, and (4) a recovery period that allowed for unstructured conversation. We used a newly developed R statistical package (i.e., rties; Butler and Barnard, 2019) that simplifies the use of dynamic models for investigating interpersonal emotional processes. We identified two different PL patterns: (1) a simple one that was characterized by stable synchronization and low frequency of oscillation; and (2) a complex one that was characterized by drifting synchronization, high frequency of oscillation, and eventual damping. Guided by social baseline theory and the reactive flexibility perspective, we explored the interactions between couple relationship functioning (i.e., love, conflict, commitment, sexual satisfaction, and relationship length) and conversational context as predictors of the PL patterns. The results suggest that partners in well-functioning relationships and emotionally challenging situations may be especially likely to show complex PL patterns that may reflect (or support) coregulatory processes.