Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Overview of in-situ Development Technology of Oil Shale with Near and Sub-critical Water

With unconventional oil and gas reservoirs gradually becoming the global oil and gas hotspot resources, the development and research of unconventional reservoirs has also been paid more and more attention by researchers. Among them, oil shale has enormous reserves in the world and plays an important role in unconventional resources. The development of oil shale can be divided into surface distillation and in-situ development. The purpose of this paper is to systematically summarize and evaluate the application of critical water in the development of oil shale. This paper also tries to find out whether there is more study on its application in order to realize industrial production of oil shale by critical water extraction. At present, researchers in China have done a lot of researches about near and sub-critical water development on oil shale, especially teachers and graduates of Jilin University. In the past two decades, researchers have made rapid progress in extracting organic matter from oil shale by using sub-critical water and near critical water. Sub-critical water refers to water whose temperature is lower than 374 °C and pressure is between 14 and 22.1 MPa, while near-critical water refers to water whose temperature is between 150 and 374 °C while the pressure is between 0.4 and 22.1 MPa. Water in these two states has superior mass transfer performance, acid-base catalytic function and lower dielectric constant than normal water. Of course, the biggest advantages of sub-critical water and near-critical water are non-toxic and inexpensive, which is of great significance to environmental protection in the process of oil shale development. In order to study the feasibility of in-situ extraction of shale oil from near-critical water and sub-critical water for field application, a comprehensive survey was conducted.
Validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Services Survey to assess burnout of prison officers working in Sri Lankan Prisons

Introduction: Prison officers undergo a high amount of work-stress and consequently suffer from burnout, which is detrimental to their health, the organization and the inmates. There are no studies conducted on burnout of prison officers in Sri Lanka, partly due to the non-availability of a validated scale. Objectives: To validate the Maslach Burnout Inventory – Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) for assessing burnout among prison officers working in Sri Lankan prisons. Methods: A cross-sectional validation study was carried out among a representative sample of 267 correctional and rehabilitation officers working in the Colombo Remand Prison and Colombo New Magazine Prison, selected through probability-proportionate-to-sample size and random sampling methods. The Sinhala-translated MBIHSS was judgmentally validated and pre-tested prior to administration. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed using LISREL 9.3 software to assess the construct validity of MBI-HSS. The presence of job-related neurasthenia in participants, diagnosed by a psychiatrist was taken as the gold standard to assess the criterion validity. Internal consistency and test-retest methods were used to assess the reliability. Results: A three-factor model with items 6, 13, 16 and 22 of the instrument deleted, was identified as the model best fitting the data during CFA, achieving the best goodness of fit parameters (RMSEA=0.0748; χ2=185.2, p=0.001; χ2/df=1.4; CFI=0.974; NNFI=0.97; GFI=0.985; SRMR=0.056). Clinical burnout was seen in 32.6% of the sample. According to the cut-off values achieved through receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves for burnout and its three sub-scales of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and diminished personal accomplishment, the sensitivity and specificity were 94.3% & 87.8%; 82.8% & 80.6%; 72.4% & 73.9%; and 77% & 77.2%, respectively. The reliability of the tool was satisfactory. Conclusions: Translated and validated MBI-HSS was found to be a valid and reliable tool for assessing burnout among Sri Lankan prison officers. Using it during their medical examinations is recommended.
A Descriptive Literature Review about Cloud Computing Security Research in the IS Discipline

Security issues are one of the biggest obstacles to widespread adoption of cloud computing. We conducted a descriptive literature review on cloud computing security research that was published between 2006 to February 2017. A total of 74 papers were selected from 13 top IS journals, 2 top electronic commerce journals, 5 top management journals, 9 CNAIS (China Association for Information Systems) Level A journals, 2 premiers IS conference proceedings and Computers & Security for our analysis. We analyzed the articles based on year of publication, publication outlets, keywords, research perspectives, and data sources. For this, basic statistics analysis and visualization analysis were adopted. The results show that although current research provides useful information on cloud computing security and facilitates the accumulation of cloud computing security knowledge, there are still some deficiencies.
Enhancing user experience with olfaction in virtual reality

Human experiences in the physical world are inherently multi-modal, in that we rely on all our senses to perceive our environment, yet experiences within virtual reality (VR) are mainly restricted to our primary senses of vision and audition. The sense of smell (olfaction) has been shown to strongly affect human emotions, memories, and behaviour, but there have only been few attempts to integrate olfactory stimuli into virtual environments. This thesis investigates the addition of olfaction as a modality for VR to enhance user experiences through odour emitting virtual objects and olfactory notifications. As part of this research, I introduce a systematic methodology for odour selection, and develop an off-the-shelf, affordable device for odour display (olfactory display) for VR head-mounted displays. My research begins with a preliminary study examining the effect of olfactory stimuli on participants’ emotional perception of digital images, which was used as a test-bed for gaining insights into the use of olfactory displays and olfaction in a HCI setting. I then report on three empirical studies that examine how olfactory cues can enhance user experience in VR in terms of three key metrics: the quality of experience, task performance, and the sense of presence, which is the feeling of ‘being there’ in the virtual environment. The results from these three studies indicated that congruent, pleasant odours could significantly enhance quality of experience, improve task performance, and to varying degrees increase the sense of presence in VR. Incongruent, pleasant odours however often caused confusion among participants and appeared not to have a significant effect on the sense of presence but were able to improve task performance. The third of these studies also examined the use of odour notifications to enhance user experiences in VR. Participants were able to perceive and understand the olfaction-based notifications, which produced an increase in the sense of presence, quality of experience, as well as task performance. Overall, this thesis’ findings support the notion that olfaction can enhance user experience in VR and it also draws attention to the importance of a systematic odour selection methodology.
A Refugee Crisis Without Refugees: Policy and media discourse on refugees in the Czech Republic and its implications

Abstract Along with other Central and Eastern European counties, Czechia has invested significant effort in deterring refugees from entering the country during the ‘refugee crisis’. This article sheds light on the role of the media in legitimising anti-refugee policies by analysing the politicised discourse on refugees in 900 articles published in Czech newspapers between 2014 and 2016. The findings indicate that refugees were depicted as a security threat and an administrative burden partly imposed by the European Union. The article discusses the policy implications of depicting refugees in this way and thus broadens the literature on European narratives during the refugee emergency in Europe.
A 1-MHz Relaxation Oscillator Core Employing a Self-Compensating Chopped Comparator Pair

An improved relaxation oscillator core is designed and fabricated in 0.35–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS process, occupying the area of 0.032 mm<sup>2</sup> and consuming around 160 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> while running at 1 MHz. Employing a self-compensating chopped comparator structure, the designed oscillator exhibits a significant improvement in the frequency stability and control linearity, at the same time retaining a fast start-up and having a minimal overhead in the power consumption and area. Measured on 8 test chips, the frequency variation against temperature is ±0.26% in the temperature range from −40 to 125 °C, and the line sensitivity is ±0.08 %/V with the supply voltage changing from 3.0 to 4.5 V. The typical distortion parameters of the control characteristic are HD<sub>2</sub> = −61.7 dB and HD<sub>3</sub> = −93.2 dB at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Delta f_{\text {osc}}=500 $ </tex-math></inline-formula> kHz. The measured jitter and phase noise at 10 kHz carrier offset are 235 ppm and −92 dBc/Hz, respectively, while the Allan deviation floor is 15 ppm.
Weight-Related Selves and Their Relationship With Body Mass Index Among Young Individuals in Curaçao

Based on the assumptions of self-discrepancy theory, the present study examined the degree of overweight, weight-related body images, and the relation between these images and body mass index (BMI) among two samples of young people from Curaçao (secondary school students, n = 176; undergraduate students, n = 205). In addition to BMI, participants reported their current, ideal, and most feared body sizes, the thinnest and largest body sizes still acceptable to them, and the body size they considered the healthiest by means of the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. We expected females to show a larger discrepancy between current and ideal body size than males (Hypothesis 1) and that this discrepancy (as an indicator of body dissatisfaction) would be related more strongly to BMI among females than among males (Hypothesis 2). Results yielded support for Hypothesis 1 among secondary school students only. Only in the undergraduate sample, BMI and body dissatisfaction were related, but equally so for males and females. Possible explanations are discussed as well as implications for weight management interventions.
Content, Contribution, and Knowledge Consumption: Uncovering Hidden Topic Structure and Rhetorical Signals in Scientific Texts

Knowledge production and scientific discourse are observable in published scholarly texts. Citations capture knowledge consumption and impact. Drawing from the sociology of science, our theoretical framework posits scientific communities as thought collectives with distinctive thought styles that embed a hidden topic structure and rhetorical signals into a journal’s published articles. We hypothesize and uncover how an article’s topic attributes (structure, focus, and newness) and rhetorical attributes (inclusiveness, exclusiveness, tentativeness, and certainty) are related to future knowledge consumption. We empirically test our ideas by applying text mining algorithms to model topics and extract rhetorical signals from 1,646 strategy articles composed of nearly 18 million words generating 172,237 citations over 35 years. We find that strategy articles’ hidden topic structure explains 14% of variance in scientific impact. We also show that topic focus and topic newness each independently, directly, and significantly increase impact. As for newness, the first two articles published on a new topic each generate a citation premium >100%, which is higher within the focal thought collective than outside. Importantly, we find that the citation premium of newness increases with greater topic focus (which attracts attention) and greater inflow of prior intracollective knowledge (which enhances absorption). Impact also increases when authors present new topics using a rhetorical style that is more tentative than certain. Overall, our findings demonstrate that topic and rhetorical attributes, as constitutive elements of scientific content, are independently and interdependently related to the consumption of strategy articles across thought collectives in management research.
German income taxation and the timing of marriage

ABSTRACT I investigate how the German income tax code affects the timing of marriages. The German income tax code allows married couples to benefit from full income splitting relative to unmarried couples. If their individual incomes differ, legally married couples may benefit from jointly filing their income taxes and thus fully splitting their incomes because of increasing marginal tax rates. The gain from joint taxation for married couples arises every year including the year in which they marry, independent of the month of the marriage. I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to test whether couples with larger gains from joint taxation are more likely to marry late in one year instead of early in the subsequent year. The results provide support for the hypothesis that pecuniary gains from joint taxation incentivize couples to prepone their marriages to the last quarter of a year, especially to December.
ALIENOR, a Macrofinancial Model for Macroprudential Policy

ALIENOR is an econometric model built to provide macroeconomic scenarios and conduct macroprudential analysis, in particular for larger stress-test exercises. In the model design, we pay particular attention to the link between financial variables and the real economy, to estimate the potential impact of the materialization of financial systemic risk, and to perform policy exercises. In addition, we quantify the impact of the macroeconomy on financial variables, with a focus on households’ credit, Non-Financial Corporates’ credit, and real estate prices, given the key role played by those variables during the crisis. Finally, we analyse the consequences on the economy of an exogenous increase in the long-term interest rates and a decrease in real estate prices.
The Welfare and Price Effects of Sector Coupling with Power-to-Gas

Electricity markets with high installed capacities of Variable Renewable Energy Sources (VRES) experience periods of supply and demand mismatch, resulting in near-zero and even negative prices, or energy spilling due to surplus. The participation of emerging Power-to-X solutions in a sector coupling paradigm, such as Power-to-Gas (PTG), has been envisioned to provide a source of demand flexibility to the power sector and decarbonize the gas sector. We advance a long-run equilibrium model to study the PTG investment decision from the point of view of a perfectly competitive electricity and gas system where each sector's market is cleared separately but coupled by PTG. Under scenarios combining PTG technology costs and electricity RES targets, we study whether or not there is a convergence in the optimal deployment of PTG capacity and what is the welfare distribution across both sectors. We observe that PTG can play an important price-setting role in the electricity market, but PTG revenues from arbitrage opportunities erodes as more PTG capacity is installed. We find that the electricity and gas sector have aligned incentives to cooperate around PTG, and instead find an issue of misaligned incentives related to the PTG actor. Although not the focus of our analysis, in some scenarios we find that the welfare optimal PTG capacity results in a loss for the PTG actor, which reveals some intuition that subsidizing PTG can make sense to reduce the cost of RES subsidies. Sensitivity analyses are conducted to contextualize these findings for system specificities.
Energy Efficient Resource Allocation Algorithm in Energy Harvesting-Based D2D Heterogeneous Networks

Energy harvesting (EH) from ambient energy sources can potentially reduce the dependence on the supply of grid or battery energy, providing many benefits to green communications. In this paper, we investigate the device-to-device (D2D) user equipments (DUEs) multiplexing cellular user equipments (CUEs) downlink spectrum resources problem for EH-based D2D communication heterogeneous networks (EH-DHNs). Our goal is to maximize the average energy efficiency of all D2D links, in the case of guaranteeing the quality of service of CUEs and the EH constraints of the D2D links. The resource allocation problems contain the EH time slot allocation of DUEs, power and spectrum resource block (RB) allocation. In order to tackle these issues, we formulate an average energy efficiency problem in EH-DHNs, taking into consideration EH time slot allocation, power and spectrum RB allocation for the D2D links, which is a nonconvex problem. Furthermore, we transform the original problem into a tractable convex optimization problem. We propose joint the EH time slot allocation, power and spectrum RB allocation iterative algorithm based on the Dinkelbach and Lagrangian constrained optimization. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed iterative algorithm achieves higher energy efficiency for different network parameters settings.
China–Africa science and technology collaboration: evidence from collaborative research papers and patents

ABSTRACT This research paper explores how the China–Africa Science and Technology (S&T) relationship has evolved over the years based on two specific outputs: research publications and patents. China–Africa S&T collaborations have evolved after China engaged actively with African countries. China has collaborated with a number of African countries in both publications and patents more than the current inter-African collaborations. However, Chinese collaborations are limited with very few African countries (For example, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco) that are comparatively stronger in S&T infrastructure than many other African countries. This research demonstrates that the China–Africa collaboration is increasing and is likely to grow in the coming years as China is emerging as a leading global research hub in the world.
Sparsity and super-resolution in sound source localization with sensor arrays

Sound source localization with sensor arrays involves the estimation of the direction-of-arrival (DOA) from a limited number of observations. Compressive sensing (CS) is a method for solving such undetermined problems which achieves simultaneously sparsity, thus super-resolution, and computational speed. We formulate the DOA estimation as a sparse signal reconstruction problem and show that methods which exploit sparsity have superior performance compared to traditional methods for DOA estimation. To demonstrate the high-resolution capabilities and the robustness of CS and other sparsity promoting optimization techniques in DOA estimation, the methods are applied to experimental data from underwater acoustic measurements in the challenging scenario of source tracking from single snapshot data.
Multi-model tourist forecasting: case study of Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The tourism industry has been one of the leading service industries in the global economy in recent years and the number of international tourism in 2018 reached 1.4 billion. The goal of the research is to evaluate the performance of various methods for forecasting tourism data and predict the number of tourists during 2019 and 2022. Performance of 15 prediction models (i.e. Local linear structural, Naïve, Holt, Random walk, ARIMA) was compared. Based on error measurements matrix (i.e. RMSE, MAE, MAPE, MASE), the most accurate method was selected to forecast the total number of tourists from 2019 to 2022 to Kurdistan Region (KR), then forecasts were performed for each governorate in KR. The results show that among 15 examined models of tourist forecasting in KR, Local linear structural and ARIMA (7,3,0) model performed best. The number of tourists to KR and each governorate in KR is predicted to increase by most experimented models, especially those which demonstrated higher accuracy. Generally, the number of tourist to KR predicted by ARIMA (7,3,0) is a lot bigger than Local linear structure. Linear structural predicted the number increase to 3,137,618 and 3,462,348 in 2020 and 2022, respectively, while ARIMA (7,3,0) predicted the number of tourists to KR to increase rapidly to 3,748,416 and 8,681,398 in 2020 and 2022.
Different pitches for different stages of entrepreneurial development: the practice of pitching to business angels

ABSTRACT In this paper, we draw upon social practice theory as a lens through which to challenge commonly held assumptions about the practice of pitching. This study presents evidence suggesting that the commonly studied investment pitch, may in fact be part of a larger relational practice that plays out across time as entrepreneurs and their new businesses develop. We present findings from twenty-seven months of participant observation in an active angel investment organization located in the United States. Based on our observations, we discuss four types of pitch: developmental, pre-investment, investment, and update.
Receiver function mapping of mantle transition zone discontinuities beneath Alaska using scaled 3-D velocity corrections

The mantle transition zone is the region between the globally observed major seismic velocity discontinuities around depths of 410 and 660 km and is important for determining the style of convection and mixing between the upper and the lower mantle. In this study, P-to-S converted waves, or receiver functions, are used to study these discontinuities beneath the Alaskan subduction zone, where the Pacific Plate subducts underneath the North American Plate. Previous tomographic models do not agree on the depth extent of the subducting slab, therefore improved imaging of the Earth structure underneath Alaska is required. We use 27 800 high quality radial receiver functions to make common conversion point stacks. Upper mantle velocity anomalies are accounted for by two recently published regional tomographic S-wave velocity models. Using these two tomographic models, we show that the discontinuity depths within our CCP stacks are highly dependent on the choice of velocity model, between which velocity anomaly magnitudes vary greatly. We design a quantitative test to show whether the anomalies in the velocity models are too strong or too weak, leading to over- or undercorrected discontinuity depths. We also show how this test can be used to rescale the 3-D velocity corrections in order to improve the discontinuity topography maps. After applying the appropriate corrections, we find a localized thicker mantle transition zone and an uplifted 410 discontinuity, which show that the slab has clearly penetrated into the mantle transition zone. Little topography is seen on the 660 discontinuity, indicating that the slab has probably not reached the lower mantle. In the southwest, P410s arrivals have very small amplitudes or no significant arrival at all. This could be caused by water or basalt in the subducting slab, reducing the strength at the 410, or by topography on the 410 discontinuity, preventing coherent stacking. In the southeast of Alaska, a thinner mantle transition zone is observed. This area corresponds to the location of a slab window, and thinning of the mantle transition zone may be caused by hot mantle upwellings.