Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation based Approach for Special Discounting Threshold

There are many existing solutions available that provide a recommendation to increase the threshold of the minimum order size to avail special discounts (SPF) by minimizing the loss in order conversion. The goal of such solutions is to maximize the earning and maximize quote to order conversion. However, these solutions are primarily based on the relationship between order size and quote to order conversion and utilize historical conversion rates at different price points (List Price-Discount). This paper illustrates the use of Single Item Single Period Newsvendor problem and Extreme Gradient Tree Boosting methods to simulate a case for increasing order thresholds and calculating the corresponding loss in order conversion. The boosting method was applied on the training data and simulated and cross-validated across three test data sets to test three different price change scenarios. We computed the expected quotes at the end of the period and expected conversion at the end of the period to maximize profit.
Retention, Completion and Progression in Tertiary Education in New Zealand

This paper discusses the results of the first comprehensive longitudinal study of qualification retention, completion and progression in tertiary education in New Zealand. Of the cohort of domestic students which started a qualification at a public tertiary education provider in 1998, 40% had gained a qualification by the end of 2002, 9% were still studying, and 51% had left without gaining a qualification. For the cohort of students who completed a qualification in 2001, 15% continued study at a higher level in 2002, 24% continued at the same or a lower level, while 62% left study. Significant variations exist for different demographic and study‐related subgroups.
Low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma sources for microbial decontamination

The aim of this paper is to provide a survey of plasma sources at atmospheric pressure used for microbicidal treatment. In order to consider the interdisciplinary character of this topic an introduction and definition of basic terms and procedures are given for plasma as well as for microbicidal issues. The list of plasma sources makes no claim to be complete, but to represent the main principles of plasma generation at atmospheric pressure and to give an example of their microbicidal efficiency. The interpretation of the microbicidal results remain difficult due to the non-standardized methods used by different authors and due to the fact that small variations in the setup can change the results dramatically.
COMPARISON OF MONTE CARLO METHODS FOR MODEL PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION DETERMINATION IN SAR INTERFEROMETRY

A commonly-applied Monte Carlo approach to derive the probability distribution for the model parameters when inverting InSAR data, involves adding simulated noise to the unwrapped interferometric phase. A non-linear inversion technique, such as simulated annealing is then used to find the least-squares best-fit solution for the model parameters, given the data plus the simulated noise. This process is repeated some number of times, with the resulting distribution of solutions representing the posterior probability distribution of the model parameters. An alternative approach uses a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to generate the posterior probability distribution directly, in a Bayesian manner. Here we confirm that the two strategies give similar results, for both simulated and real interferometric SAR data, in the case where there are no prior constraints on the model parameters. We find also that the Markov chain algorithm is two orders of magnitude more efficient in terms of the number of forward models that need to be run. The Markov chain algorithm has a second advantage in that prior constraints on the model parameters can be incorporated.
Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change through Harvesting and Planting in Boreal Forests of Northeastern China

The ecological resilience of boreal forests is an important element of measuring forest ecosystem capacity recovered from a disturbance, and is sensitive to broad-scale factors (e.g., climate change, fire disturbance and human related impacts). Therefore, quantifying the effects of these factors is increasingly important for forest ecosystem management. In this study, we investigated the impacts of climate change, climate-induced fire regimes, and forest management schemes on forest ecological resilience using a forest landscape model in the boreal forests of the Great Xing’an Mountains, Northeastern China. First, we simulated the effects of the three studied variables on forest aboveground biomass, growing space occupied, age cohort structure, and the proportion of mid and late-seral species indicators by using the LANDIS PRO model. Second, we calculated ecological resilience based on these four selected indicators. We designed five simulated scenarios: Current fire only scenario, increased fire occurrence only scenario, climate change only scenario, climate-induced fire regime scenario, and climate-fire-management scenario. We analyzed ecological resilience over the five scenarios from 2000 to 2300. The results indicated that the initialized stand density and basal area information from the year 2000 adequately represented the real forest landscape of that year, and no significant difference was found between the simulated landscape of year 2010 and the forest inventory data of that year at the landscape scale. The simulated fire disturbance results were consistent with field inventory data in burned areas. Compared to the current fire regime scenario, forests where fire occurrence increased by 30% had an increase in ecological resilience of 12.4–43.2% at the landscape scale, whereas increasing fire occurrence by 200% would decrease the ecological resilience by 2.5–34.3% in all simulated periods. Under the low climate-induced fire regime scenario, the ecological resilience was 12.3–26.7% higher than that in the reference scenario across all simulated periods. Under the high climate-induced fire regime scenario, the ecological resilience decreased significantly by 30.3% and 53.1% in the short- and medium-terms at landscape scale, while increasing slightly by 3.8% in the long-term period compared to the reference scenario. Compared to no forest management scenario, ecological resilience was decreased by 5.8–32.4% under all harvesting and planting strategies for the low climate-induced fire regime scenario, and only the medium and high planting intensity scenarios visibly increased the ecological resilience (1.7–15.8%) under the high climate-induced fire regime scenario at the landscape scale. Results from our research provided insight into the future forest management and have implications for improving boreal forest sustainability.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis of maize (Zea mays) subjected to progressive drought reveals involvement of lipids, amides and carbohydrates

Changing climate means that there will be more episodes of drought, especially in arid regions. Drought stress is an important environmental factor that reduces crop productivity. Despite the vast amount of literature on drought stress in plants, there are still many uncertainties concerning the molecular responses under water deficit. In particular, if we wish to breed plants that are able to tolerate stress, identifying novel traits that contribute to this is desirable. In this study, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to investigate the response of maize to progressive drought. The objective was to determine whether FTIR spectroscopy is a technique that might be used in monitoring the molecular processes involved in drought responses in plants. Maize seeds were grown for three weeks in a controlled environment before drought was imposed by withdrawing water for up to 12 days. Principal component-discriminant function analysis (PC-DFA) indicated that water deficit elicited changes in the FTIR spectra within the wavenumber ranges of 3050 to 2800, 1750 to 1250 and 1250 to 900 cm-1. With water deficit, the intensities of the absorption bands were reduced. PC-DFA loadings confirmed that the signals to the changes were lipids, amides and carbohydrates, respectively. This work shows that FTIR spectroscopy can provide valuable insights into drought responses of plants and maybe useful for identifying novel drought tolerance traits. Key words: Metabolic fingerprint, molecular changes, multivariate analysis, principal component-discriminant function analysis (PC-DFA), principal component analysis (PCA).
Critically Examine the Idea that Neighbourhoods Characterized by Higher Levels of 'Social Disorganization' are More Prone to Crime

The first impression when someone hears the phrase “social disorganization”, is that neighbourhoods that are socially disorganised will definitely be more prone to crime. It is true that crime is not haphazardly allocated beyond neighbourhoods in a city and doesn’t take place evenly in all areas. Instead, it verges to raise in particular locales and not others. Social disorganisation theory considers this fact the non random distribution of crimeas a departure point for explicating crime [1]. Many people relate social disorganisation with individuals taking or dealing drugs in the streets, fights, high rates of crime, prostitution or different criminal and non criminal acts that generates a feeling of danger and it is seen by neighbourhoods as evidence of failure and collapse in social regulation [2]. In order to confirm or disprove this idea, this essay will try to examine the theories of the Chicago School by analysing their theories and hypothetical models about crime and its connection and reason, to and by different social components. Furthermore, considering researches that have been conducted, an examination of the function of social efficacy in neighbourhoods and the drawbacks of its absence in delinquency and human bonds will be done. Finally, an effort will be made to reinforce this notion by associating it to the “Broken Windows” theory in order to provide an optimum comprehension of the relation amid sociable and physical disorder and crime.
ASSESSMENT OF COASTAL DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS ON CORAL ECOSYSTEMS IN NAIBAND BAY, THE PERSIAN GULF

This paper presents an application of Sediment Constituent Analysis (SCA) method to sediment samples taken particularly from the Naiband Bay, the Persian Gulf, to assess current conditions of the coral ecosystem in this area which has been affected by the ongoing developments in the neighboring South Pars Oil Field as well as construction a new port at Haleh in the south east corner of the bay.
Relationship between Service Quality and Behavioral Intentions: The Mediating Effect of Customer Satisfaction

This study was undertaken to measure the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. A survey method was employed to collect data from customers who received treatments at army medical organizations in Malaysia. The outcomes of Smart-PLS path model analysis confirmed that relationship between service qualities features (tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) with customer satisfaction were positively and significantly correlated with behavioral intentions. This result demonstrates that effect of tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy on behavioral intentions was mediated by customer satisfaction. DOI: 10.15408/etk.v16i2. 5537
A Diagnostic for Assessing the Influence of Cases on the Prediction of Random Effects in a Mixed Model

A diagnostic defined in terms of the Kullback-Leibler directed divergence is developed for identifying cases which impact the prediction of the random effects in a mixed model. The diagnostic compares two condi- tional densities governing the prediction of the random effects: one based on parameter estimates computed using the full data set, the other based on parameter estimates computed usin gac ase-deleted data set. We present the definition of the diagnostic and derive a formula for its evaluation. Its performance is investigated in an application where exam scores are modeled using a mixed model containing a fixed exam effect and a random subject effect.
GENDER GAPS IN UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN ARGENTINA ANA CAROLINA ORTEGA MASAGUÉ RESUMEN

JEL Classification: J16, J64 Using data from the Argentinean Household Survey for the period 1995-2001, I study the factors that explain the gender gap in unemployment rates. Using a microeconometric decomposition technique, I find that the gender gap in unemployment rates is explained not by differences in the characteristics of men and women but by differences in the labor market returns to their characteristics, especially those associated to the marital status. Hence, differences in men’s and women’s behaviour and the practices of employers towards gender are behind the gender gap. However, the relative importance of these two factors in explaining the gap is not totally clear.
CC-PSM: A Preference-Aware Selection Model for Cloud Service Based on Consumer Community

In order to give full consideration to the consumer’s personal preference in cloud service selection strategies and improve the credibility of service prediction, a preference-aware cloud service selection model based on consumer community (CC-PSM) is presented in this work. The objective of CC-PSM is to select a service meeting a target consumer’s demands and preference. Firstly, the correlation between cloud consumers from a bipartite network for service selection is mined to compute the preference similarity between them. Secondly, an improved hierarchical clustering algorithm is designed to discover the consumer community with similar preferences so as to form the trusted groups for service recommendation. In the clustering process, a quantization function called community degree is given to evaluate the quality of community structure. Thirdly, a prediction model based on consumer community is built to predict a consumer’s evaluation on an unknown service. The experimental results show that CC-PSM can effectively partition the consumers based on their preferences and has good effectiveness in service selection applications.
The way ahead for Finnish comprehensive school? Examining state-level school administrators’ theory of change

Abstract A significant body of evidence shows that the goals of educational reforms are seldom fully achieved. Some research suggests that the problem lies in state-level curriculum reform work that lacks a sufficient understanding of the educational reality. However, views and perceptions among the central architects of the reforms have not been thoroughly studied. This study provides an insight into these views. The data comprise 23 semi-structured interviews with officials from the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) who conducted the Finnish Comprehensive School Core Curriculum Reform (2013–2014). FNBE officials’ perceptions of the triggers and aims of the reform—considered as their ‘theory of change’—are explored with qualitative analysis by identifying issues they wanted to preserve or react to, and the issues that should be worked towards and positioned as goals in the future. The results show that there is a somewhat shared theory of change among the architects of Finnish curriculum reform. The chief issues considered as things to react to were related to society, whereas the most common aims were related to pedagogy, such as moving away from traditional teaching towards pupil-centred collaborative learning. However, the theory of change was complex and included possibly contradictory elements.
The influence of crude oil acids on natural inhibition of hydrate plugs

Gas hydrates can form in petroleum production systems of natural gas, water and crude oil. In some systems the hydrates agglomerate rapidly into large plugs that cause hazardous blockages of e.g. transport pipelines. The dangers associated with hydrate plugs are severe, and hydrate prevention strategies represents huge economical costs for the operators. However, in some systems plugging is never observed. Instead, the hydrates form as tiny crystals that are easily transported within the fluid flow as suspensions. Crude oils that possess low hydrate plugging tendency are believed to contain natural inhibiting components (NICs). One possible mechanism is that the NICs are anti-agglomerants, i.e. surfactant molecules capable of adsorbing to the hydrate surface. The layer of adsorbed surfactants creates an "oil-wet" hydrate surface that makes the particles less prone to agglomeration and plugging. Knowledge about how to isolate these specific compounds from the crude oils, and to elucidate their chemical structures, can provide a valuable tool to hydrate plug assessmentand control. These compounds could potentially be developed into future environmentally friendly low dosage hydrate inhibitors. The origin of these crude oil compounds is unknown. The process of biodegradation seems to be of importance, as most non-plugging oils are biodegraded whereas plugging oils are typically non-biodegraded. However, there are exceptions to these general categories, and this raises the question whether different biodegradation processes influence the plugging potential of oils differently. This thesis addresses the challenge of isolation and identification of natural inhibiting compounds in crude oils, and also includes testing their hydrate wettability effects. One class of crude oil components that has previously been recognised to display hydrate anti-agglomerating effects is the polar acidic fraction. In the work of this thesis the attention has been directed to this fraction. A central part of the work has been the development of HPLCand SPE methods for fractionation of petroleum acids. The HPLC separation gives useful infor-
Estimating moisture contents in the vadose zone using cross‐borehole ground penetrating radar: A study of accuracy and repeatability

Experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the accuracy and precision of moisture content estimates derived from cross‐borehole ground penetrating radar (XBGPR) measurements made within the vadose zone. Both numerical simulations and field data demonstrate that although a certain amount of image smearing occurs under ideal conditions the general trends in the spatial variation of the moisture content can be estimated by a simple empirical transformation from images of electromagnetic (EM) wave velocity. The field results are verified by comparing the radar‐derived images of volumetric moisture content to neutron log derived values. When an appropriate site‐specific conversion from radar wave velocity to moisture content is applied, a root mean square (RMS) error of 2.0–3.1% volumetric moisture content exists between the two sets. Further comparison of the two different data sets along with analysis of plots of the ray density through each cell indicates that regions of high moisture content are better resolved than regions of low moisture and that most of the discrepancy between radar‐derived and neutron‐derived moisture contents occurs in regions of high moisture content. Better spatial resolution can be provided if dense station spacing is used. However, the amount of extra time required to acquire the extra data may limit the usefulness of the method. Repeatability measurements made with five data sets demonstrate that the precision error of the data acquisition system employed averages about 0.54 ns, which translates to about a 0.5% error in moisture content estimation.
The Effect of Health Services Quality Dimensions on Patients’ Satisfaction in Jordan Governmental Hospitals: Nurses Perception

Abstract This study aimed to determine the effect of health services Quality dimensions on patients satisfaction in Jordan Governmental Hospitals: Perceptions of Nurses. To attain the aim of this study a cross-sectional survey design which was analytical and descriptive in nature was used, a sample of nurses employed in the target hospitals was chosen; the sample consisted of 310 nurses. To determine the impact of the application of health services Quality dimensions on patients satisfaction the researcher used a special measure called "(SERVQUAL Instrument) which adapted by Parasurman and et al. (1)" which was designed specially to measure the quality of service in different service sectors. The content validity of the measure conducted by committee arbitrators and throughout the multiple uses of this measure over the time. The reliability of the measure computed using Cronbach alpha, and the result indicated that the internal consistency of the measure was 80%. The results revealed that: There was no relationship between Tangibility dimension of health services and patients satisfaction. There was a positive relationship between the other four quality of health services dimensions (Reliability, Empathy, Responsiveness, and Assurance) and the patientsâ€™ satisfaction. There was a positive effect of age variable on the perception of the nurses of the impact of the quality dimensions on the quality of healthcare services; while there were no effects of other demographic variables such as sex or educational level.
Virtual reference feedback tuning: a direct method for the design of feedback controllers

This paper considers the problem of designing a controller for an unknown plant based on input=output measurements. The new design method we propose is direct (no model identi4cation of the plant is needed) and can be applied using a single set of data generated by the plant, with no need for speci4c experiments nor iterations. It is shown that the method searches for the global optimum of the design criterion and that, in the case of restricted complexity controller design, the achieved controller is a good approximation of the restricted complexity global optimal controller. A simulation example shows the e7ectiveness of the method. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Influence of the Unbalanced Voltage on Torque Pulsation for Induction Motor

One of the most applied electrical machines is Induction Motor (IM) with cage rotor. This type of motors has high starting current and torque value at the accelerating moment. Voltage drops in electrical nets are caused by high currents; therefore, it makes influence on the electrical energy users and electricity supply companies. Use of nowadays semiconductor devices can solve these disadvantages. Despite of the fact the frequency control devices are developing rapidly its application in industry is not so much. In several companies operating with induction motors, control devices are not installed. The aim of this work is to research influence of unbalanced voltage on IM torque. With the help of the program MATLAB Simulink a model which analyzed IM torque was created. In the work process this program was made for conveyors when the load is constant during the operation. At the end of this work, practical measurements are compared with the values obtained in software MATLAB Simulink.
An Improved Pixon-Based Approach for Image Segmentation

An improved pixon-based method is proposed in this paper for image segmentation. In this approach, a wavelet thresholding technique is initially applied on the image to reduce noise and to slightly smooth the image. This technique causes an image not to be oversegmented when the pixonbased method is used. Indeed, the wavelet thresholding, as a pre-processing step, eliminates the unnecessary details of the image and results in a fewer pixon number, faster performance and more robustness against unwanted environmental noises. The image is then considered as a pixonal model with a new structure. The obtained image is segmented using the hierarchical clustering method (Fuzzy C-Means algorithm). The experimental results in this paper indicate that the proposed pixon-based approach has a reduced computational load and a better accuracy compared to the other existing image segmentation techniques.