Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Testing for the Bidirectional Relationship Between FDI in Services and Trade in Services: Evidence from Emerging Economies

We examine the two-way links between foreign direct investments (FDI) in services and trade in services for 26 emerging economies from 2003 to 2015 using sectoral and sectoral disaggregated FDI data. Within a multivariate framework, we use panel unit root tests, recently developed heterogeneous panel cointegration and panel vector error correction model (VECM). Our results confirmed the cointegrating relationship between trade in services, FDI in services, financial services FDI and nonfinancial services FDI. We find the existence of long-run unidirectional causality from trade in services to FDI in services. However, the disaggregated analysis shows a bidirectional link between nonfinancial services FDI and trade in services in the short run. Still, there is no causality between financial services FDI and trade in services both in the short run and long run. The result also shows the evidence of unidirectional causality running from trade in services to nonfinancial services FDI in the long run. It implies that sectoral decomposition matters in the FDI–trade nexus in emerging economies. JEL Codes: G20, F14, G20, F23
Nearshore Bathymetry Retrieval from Wave-Based Inversion for Video Imagery

A wavelet-based method for bathymetry retrieval using a sequence of static images of the surface wave field, as obtained from video imagery, is proposed. Synthetic images of the water surface are generated from a numerical Boussinesq type model simulating the propagation of irregular waves. The spectral analysis is used to retrieve both wave periods and wavelengths by evaluating the spectral peaks in the time and spatial domains, respectively. The water depths are estimated using the linear dispersion relation and the results are validated with the model’s bathymetry. To verify the proposed methodology, 2D and 3D simulations considering effects of wave shoaling and refraction were performed for different sea conditions over different seafloors. The method’s ability to reproduce the original bathymetry is shown to be robust in intermediate and shallow waters, being also validated with a real case with images obtained with a shore-based video station. The main improvements of the new method compared to the consideration of a single image, as often used in Satellite Derived Bathymetry, is that the use of successive images enables the consideration of different wave periods, improving depth estimations and not requiring the use of subdomains or filters. This image processing methodology shows very positive results to provide bathymetry maps for shallow marine environments and can be useful to monitor the nearshore with high time- and space-resolution at low cost.
Operational load shaping of office buildings connected to thermal energy storage using dynamic programming

In the future we will pay for energy flexibility rather than energy consumption. This makes clear that we need to investigate and enhance the energy flexibility of buildings. Basically, buildings energy flexibility refers to the thermal mass and any other building integrated physical entity that can store energy. But the buildings energy flexibility is also associated with the applied control strategy. A promising strategy to increase the flexibility of the building energy demand is the use of model predictive control. The performance of the model predictive control strategy strongly relates to the formulated optimization methodology. In this paper a generic optimization methodology using dynamic programming is successfully implemented. The method evaluates peak shaving and load shifting of building energy demand using a thermal energy storage tank. Simulations are conducted that investigate the optimal discharge of a thermal energy storage tank installed in a small scale office building. The study also presents an approach to define the building to grid energy flexibility. In particular, the flexibility to limit the electricity consumption of the heat pump as heating source is investigated. Based on the optimization results of three cases (reference, peak shaving and load shifting case) the building to grid energy flexibility is calculated.
Real-Time Detection of COVID-19 Events From Twitter: A Spatial-Temporally Bursty-Aware Method

In the last two years, the outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly affected human life, society, and the economy worldwide. To prevent people from contracting COVID-19 and mitigate its spread, it is crucial to timely distribute complete, accurate, and up-to-date information about the pandemic to the public. In this article, we propose a spatial–temporally bursty-aware method called <monospace>STBA</monospace> for real-time detection of COVID-19 events from Twitter. <monospace>STBA</monospace> has three consecutive stages. In the first stage, <monospace>STBA</monospace> identifies a set of keywords that represent COVID-19 events according to the spatiotemporally bursty characteristics of words using Ripley’s <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> function. <monospace>STBA</monospace> will also filter out tweets that do not contain the keywords to reduce the interference of noise tweets on event detection. In the second stage, <monospace>STBA</monospace> uses online density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise clustering to aggregate tweets that describe the same event as much as possible, which provides more information for event identification. In the third stage, <monospace>STBA</monospace> further utilizes the temporal bursty characteristic of event location information in the clusters to identify real-world COVID-19 events. Each stage of <monospace>STBA</monospace> can be regarded as a noise filter. It gradually filters out COVID-19-related events from noisy tweet streams. To evaluate the performance of <monospace>STBA</monospace>, we collected over 116 million Twitter posts from 36 consecutive days (from March 22, 2020 to April 26, 2020) and labeled 501 real events in this dataset. We compared <monospace>STBA</monospace> with three state-of-the-art methods, EvenTweet, event detection via microblog cliques (EDMC), and GeoBurst+ in the evaluation. The experimental results suggest that <monospace>STBA</monospace> outperforms GeoBurst+ by 13.8%, 12.7%, and 13.3% in terms of precision, recall, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$F_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> score. <monospace>STBA</monospace> achieved even more improvements compared with EvenTweet and EDMC.
EFFECT OF FEEDING SPANISH PANICUM MOMBASA PLANT ON THE PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF WEANED BALADI GOAT’S KIDS

SUMMARY he current study was conducted to evaluate of Spanish panicum mombasa (SPM) in Cutting interval (CI) 30 day in weaning Baldi goat’s kids performance feeding at 0, 25 and 50% SPM as a replacement of clover hay (CH). There was no significant difference between the treatments in all periods of the experiment in average monthly weight gain . There were no significant differences between animals in the average total weight gain, average daily weight gain and amount of total feed intake between control group (T1) 0% SPM and group fed 25% SPM (T2) for all periods, and the lower daily weight gain was observed in group fed 50%SPM (T3) . No significant diffrence between control group (T1) and (T2) on DM, CP, EE and DCP comparing with group (T3) was recorded lower digestion coefficients of DM, OM, CP, NFE, TDN and DCP. groups fed T3 had (P<0.05) higher total serum protein, albumin, A/G ratio , MDA and GPx concentration. While group fed T1(control group) recorded (P<0.05) higher AST, ALT, Triglyceride, urea and creatinine concentration compared with groups fed T2 and T3. No significant differences (P<0.05) in globulin concentrations of plasma among groups fed T1, T2 and T3. However,These values are found to be within the normal range of blood anlysis results. The best relative economic efficiency was significantly (P<0.05) recorded by (T2) being 127.47% when compared with the control group (100%). AST, ALT, Triglyceride, urea and creatinine concentration compared with groups fed T2 and T3. No significant differences (P<0.05) in globulin concentrations of plasma among groups fed T1, T2 and T3. However,These values are found to be within the normal range of anlysis results. These results are found in agreement with the result obtained by Yusuf et al. (2012).
Initial Investigation of the Streamer to Spark Transition in a Hollow-Needle-to-Plate Configuration

Nanosecond pulsed atmospheric pressure plasma jets (ns-APPJs), typically, in the form of guided streamers, are interesting to a broad range of applications including material processing, surface disinfection, and cancer treatment. The generation of repeatable and stable guided streamers depends on the applied voltage pulse, gas condition, and electrode geometry. Guided streamer initiation and breakdown (i.e., streamer to spark transition) are studied here using a needle-to-plate electrode configuration with helium flowing through a hollow needle in ambient air toward a ground plate. The impact of pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and pulsewidth on the breakdown voltage as functions of the gap distance were evaluated. Higher PRFs and longer pulsewidths were found to be associated with lower breakdown voltages for the same gap distance.
Psychological and Sociological Profile of Women Who Have Completed Elite Military Combat Training

More than 75 women have successfully graduated from the U.S. Army Ranger Course since the integration of women into elite military combat training. This study sought to identify the psychological characteristics and sociological variables that contributed to their motivation and success. A guided interview and demographic and psychological questionnaires were used to assess characteristics of 13 women who successfully completed elite military combat training. Collectively, these women were college graduates and had well educated fathers, possessed high levels of grit and resiliency, and described themselves as self-competitive challenge seekers. These women all had a strong male influence in their lives. The characteristics of these pioneer women may be unique from subsequent cohorts as female participation in elite military combat training becomes the norm and as attitudes and experiences change for graduates of female combat training over time.
Influence of nitrogen and potassium inputs on plant biomass and nitrogen use efficiency of Dioscorea alata

Abstract Nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) are known to be important for root and tuber crops but their interactions have not yet been studied in Dioscorea spp. A field experiment was conducted on a Luvisol, in Sri Lanka, over two consecutive seasons in 2013/14 and 2014/15 with D. alata (cv. ‘Raja Ala’). The study was designed to assess the effects of combined N and K inputs added as mineral fertilizers on biomass production, leaf area index (LAI), tuber yield, N and K uptake, fertilizer N recovery in soil/plant system, and N and K input-output balances. The fertilizer N recovery was studied using 15N labeled urea. Increased N inputs increased the LAI, N and K uptake via increased biomass production, and tuber yield. Potassium input alone had no effect on LAI or tuber yield. After two seasons, 4 to 10% of the fertilizer N applied on yam, exported with the roots and tubers while 5 to 9% recovered in the senescent shoots, 29 to 62% of fertilizer N recovered in the first 50 cm of the soil and 25 to 58% of l fertilizer N had not been recovered in plant and soil system. Results suggest that nutrient management in yam should consider: (i) the amount of fertilizer N and K should cover the amount of N and K exported with the tuber harvest and (ii) yam should be followed by a crop with a long and fine root system to take up N in the soil profile.
Doing the right thing? value conflicts and community policing

ABSTRACT Research on police legitimacy and public confidence underlines the importance of the police demonstrating moral alignment with the communities they serve. However, less attention is given to conflict between values, either within communities or between communities and the police. This study explores value conflicts in community or neighbourhood policing from a perspective of political realism, which suggests that such conflicts are inevitable and can only be resolved in temporary and contingent ways. It does so through a case study of neighbourhood policing, seen through local ward panel meetings, in one London borough. In total, 33 semi-structured interviews with 43 participants were undertaken, and seven hours of observations. This paper identifies four value-based conflicts that emerged through the meetings, and shows how neighbourhood police officers were able to provisionally resolve them, thus supporting confidence and legitimacy. However, it also shows how austerity has put this capacity at risk, both operationally, and through a receding of confidence as an organisational priority, with potential long-term consequences for public confidence in the police. With global protests such as Black Lives Matters, and anti-lockdown demonstrations, underlining the importance of public confidence and legitimacy to police organisations across the world, this paper adds to the evidence on the capacity of community policing to support this, offers a new perspective to understand the role of values in policing, and discusses the policy implications.
Desiging the Pathways of Engineering Alumni Research Survey (PEARS)

Surveys of engineering alumni are a common approach taken by departments to collect evidence demonstrating how educational objectives are being met for the purpose of continuous improvement of the program (ABET Criterion 4). Whi le survey administration tools have become widely available and easy to navigate, resea ch rs must still address the challenges of designing not only a concise survey instrument but also an effective deployment plan that results in a high response rate among targeted respondents. To explore these issues in a real world context, th is paper draws upon first hand experiences related to the planning of the Pathways of Engineer i g Alumni Research Survey (PEARS) which was piloted with geographically distributed enginee ring alumni from four institutions in fall 2011. Creating the PEARS deployment plan parallele d th design of the instrument itself. This paper speaks to the unique logistical consideration s of deploying an alumni survey with respect to subject recruitment, incentives, alumni associat ion partnerships, and scalability. The preliminary findings outlined here are intended to inf rm the redesign of the deployment plan for future administrations of PEARS as well as to serve as a practical resource for other researchers wishing to survey engineering alumni.
Effects of Different Natural Extracts and Plant Growth Regulators on Plant Regeneration and Callus Induction from Pseudobulbs Explants through in vitro Seed Germination of Endangered Orchid Bulbophyllum auricomum Lindl.

Bulbophyllum auricomum Lindl. is a rare orchid and has flowers with an attractive fragrance. The present study investigated the tissue culture method for micropropagation. Capsules derived from artificial self-pollination were obtained for the best seed germination in MS basal medium. Plant growth regulators (1.0 mg·L -1 of BAP and 2.0 mg·L -1 of NAA) were affected by callus induction from subcultured pseudobulb explants. For the callus subculture, different natural plant extracts were tested in 11 treatment media. Among them, MS medium with 150 mL·L -1 of coconut water was generally effective in fresh weight (1.75 ± 0.08) and (3.01 ± 0.20) of callus proliferation and PLBs induction at 1 and 2 months, respectively, followed by an MS combination of 30 g·L -1 of banana and 20 g·L -1 of potato extract. The results of a comparative study of different MS mediums containing plant growth regulators with a natural extract combination and MS medium supplemented with natural extract only showed that MS medium supplemented with a combination of natural extracts (150 mL·L -1 of coconut water) and plant growth regulators (2.0 mg·L -1 of BAP and 1.0 mg·L -1 of NAA) obtained the highest shoot regeneration (3.37 ± 0.17) and (6.41 ± 0.68) after 1 month and 2 months of culturing, respectively.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage Using Six Sigma Methodology: Review

This paper reviews the main idea of successful leadership to achieve sustainable competitive advantage to ensure quality of service by using six sigma methods. Alternatively, it can only have the sincerity on theoretical basis, and this is what the current study intends to do. The research consisted of two parts; first, brief description of main phases of six sigma and its system operation. Secondly, review the main dimension of sustainable competitive advantage including Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness, knowledge making and cost of poor quality.
Zinc oxide–tungsten-based pyramids in construction of ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber for solar energy harvesting

A new broadband absorber is investigated for the entire frequency domain of solar light (infrared, visible light and ultraviolet). While current absorbers in the literature have limited operation frequencies, investigated structure has a wide bandwidth and a perfect absorptivity (99% at nearly all operation frequencies). The proposed metamaterial absorber has ultra-broadband, angle-insensitive, polarisation-independent characteristics with a different conventional pyramid shape. Whereas other pyramid or truncate pyramid-shaped multi-layered metamaterial absorber (MA) are composed of multi-layered dielectrics and metal combinations, the proposed structure has only three layers. As a result of exhibiting perfect absorption characteristic, the proposed structure is a new candidate for energy harvesting applications in solar energy collection.
UPGRADES AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE CERN AD FOR OPERATION DURING THE NEXT DECADES

As the ELENA project is now well underway, focus is turned to the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) itself. Most of the machine’s key components are in operation since more than 25 years and a substantial consolidation program is now being launched in view of continued operation beyond 2025. Over the course of the next few years a progressive consolidation of the AD Target area, the AD ring and all associated systems will take place. Several investigations have recently been performed in the target area with the objective of establishing the radiation environment and the sensitivity of the antiproton production to potential misalignment of the production elements. Identification of reliability and serviceability issues of the AD ring components and associated systems has been done and will continue during the 2013 shut-down. Planned and ongoing consolidation activities are also discussed with emphasis on stochastic and electron beam cooling, instrumentation, RF systems, vacuum, magnets, power converters and beam transfer equipment. Figure 1: Layout of AD, ELENA and experimental areas.
Age and gender estimation from facial image processing

We are researching about an age and gender estimation based on wrinkle texture and color of facial images. A preliminary questionnaire (enquete) examination on how effectively the facial images could be used for gender and age estimations was executed by using 300 different faces and 21 examinees. Wrinkles appearing in the face and the shape and size of the facial parts are selected to model the age and gender estimation in this research basing on this enquete. Basing on this preliminary consideration, an image-processing algorithm for wrinkle modeling, was proposed. In addition, a method for making relationships between facial images and their keywords was proposed by using the latent semantic indexing. An efficient interface for displaying the relationships among keywords and facial images has been introduced with 2D/3D-feature space defined by the indexing.
Novel CFTR Activator Cact-3 Ameliorates Ocular Surface Dysfunctions in Scopolamine-Induced Dry Eye Mice

Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is highly expressed on the ocular epithelium and plays a pivotal role in the fluid secretion driven by chloride transport. Dry eye disease is one of the most common diseases with limited therapeutic options. In this study, a high-throughput screening was performed to identify novel CFTR activators capable of inducing chloride secretion on the ocular surface. The screening of 50,000 small molecules revealed three novel CFTR activators. Among them, the most potent CFTR activator, Cact-3 (7-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-N-(4-ethoxyphenyl)pyrazolo [1,5-α]pyrimidine-2-carboxamide), produced large and sustained Cl− currents in WT-CFTR-expressing FRT cells with no alterations of ANO1 and hERG channel activity. The application of Cact-3 strongly activated CFTR in the ocular epithelia of mice and it also significantly increased CFTR-mediated Cl− transport in a primary cultured human conjunctival epithelium. Cact-3 strongly stimulated tear secretion in normal mice. In addition, Cact-3 significantly reduced ocular surface damage and the expression of proinflammatory factors, including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ in an experimental mouse model of dry eye disease. These results suggest that Cact-3, a novel CFTR activator, may be a potential development candidate for the treatment of dry eye disease.
Progress in HFSWR research at Harbin Institute of Technology

The Experimental HF Surface Over-The-Horizon Radar set up in the late of 80s has been updated by installation of multi-channel receivers with digitization at the second IF stage, new designed transmitting and receiving antennas, wideband solid-state power amplifiers, frequency synthesizer with low phase noise and flexible signal generator, a new radar controller added to allow the automatic and manual control of the radar, a new designed signal and data processor built mainly with 16bit A/D converters and several multiprocessor boards with Share chip processors added in, and a electromagnetic spectrum monitor equipped in the updated radar system to be able to automatically survey HF spectrum occupancy for providing so called clear frequency channel suitable for radar operation. The purpose of the setting up of the updated radar system is to demonstrate some of new functions of the radar system, and to prove some new techniques to be possibly used in a near future. In the paper, some latest developments of countering measures with radio frequency interferences are presented, too.
Object Detection Method for High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery Based on Convolutional Neural Networks with Optimal Object Anchor Scales

ABSTRACT Object detection is a key technique for automatic information extraction, analysis and understanding of high spatial resolution remote-sensing images (HSRIs). Object anchor scales are a critical factor for object detection of HSRIs based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). With respect to adaptively obtaining optimal object anchor scales for object detection of HSRIs, this paper proposes a novel object detection method for HSRIs based on CNNs with optimal object anchor scales. First, optimal object anchor scales for object detection of HSRIs are obtained using an adaptive object-scale learning operator. Then, a CNN object detection framework for HSRIs is designed based on optimal object anchor scales. Using multiple-object detection datasets, the proposed method is compared with some state-of-the-art object detection algorithms. Experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve 90.42%, 91.98% and 85.07% mAP on WHU-RSONE, UCAS-AOD and HSRC2016, respectively, and outperforms state-of-the-art object detection algorithms.