Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Critical Period Affect Bilingual Advantage for Working Memory and Metacognition?

There have been many studies exploring the advantages that bilingualism confers to individuals’ working memory and metacognition (see Ransdell, 2006; Del Missier et al., 2010). The hypothesis of language critical period states that if no language learning and teaching happen during the critical period, an individual will never be able to fully grasp any language to a full extent (Fromkin et al., 1974). This study investigates whether late bilingualism (second language acquisition after the critical period) will positively affect a person’s working memory and metacognition just like early bilingualism (second language acquisition before the critical period) does. Sixty Chinese persons between the ages of 18 and 35 participated in my online experimental protocol, including a language experience questionnaire, a reading comprehension exam, and a reading span task. I found that late bilingualism poses a similar advantage to an individual’s working memory as early bilingualism, while it negatively affects an individual’s metacognitive awareness of their own language ability.
Does currency misalignment matter for economic growth? – Evidence from Turkey

PurposeThe study mainly aims to examine the currency misalignment of Turkish lira and evaluate if it has an impact on economic growth of Turkey.Design/methodology/approachIt relies on Johansen cointegration technique for measuring currency misalignment relying on single-equation approach and the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to evaluate how misalignment affects economic growth. The sample period covers from 1980 to 2016.FindingsThe study identifies that terms of trade, relative productivity differences, net foreign asset, investment and trade openness determine the equilibrium REER of Turkey, and the degree of currency misalignment is observed at a substantial level. The outcome of the ARDL approach suggests that higher currency misalignment reduces economic growth. Turning to the separate impacts of undervaluation and overvaluation, while the former falters economic growth, the later promotes it, a finding contrary to the conventional expectation. Therefore, the use of exchange rate as a policy variable is a critical concern to avoid misalignment for sustained economic growth.Practical implicationsThe anti-growth effect of undervaluation and misalignment is an indication of redistribution of income which could be verified by examining the aggregate consumption behavior of the economy in response to RER movements.Originality/valueThe impacts of currency undervaluation and overvaluation on economic growth of Turkey have been studied in a number of time-series studies. But there is no documented study on the role of currency misalignment on Turkish economic growth. This study is the first that examines how the economic growth of Turkey is influenced by currency misalignment together with the impact of undervaluation and overvaluation.
A Socio-Economic Model of Sales Tax Compliance

Tax compliance is an issue that can be traced back to the introduction of taxes, which is the reason such compliance remains a significant topic in the current literature of academia and practice. Prior studies on the topic of tax compliance or non-compliance can be categorized into two, namely economic and social/psychological theories. In a more serious note, tax evasion has remained a key issue among governments all over the globe, with Jordan being no exception. Jordan has undertaken different fiscal measures to increase compliance in the domestic front in the past decades, but based on annual reports, the country is still experiencing a considerable increase in net public debt and fiscal deficit that can be traced back to the increased tax non-compliance rate. This is specifically true in the case of sales tax in Jordan. To compound the matter further, literature concerning the determinants of sales tax compliance as well as other determinants that drive non-compliance is still scarce, with a universal tax compliance model able to explain the issue with clarity still being elusive. Hence, this work proposed the determinants of sales tax compliance in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan, extending Fischer’s model of tax compliance, and adding the moderating role of tax knowledge and direct effect of tax service quality. This study proposed a model encapsulating the social, psychological and economic factors to provide insight into the sales tax compliance of Jordanian SMEs.
Research on Plastic Zone Evolution Law of Surrounding Rock of Gob-Side Entry Retaining under Typical Roof Conditions in Deep Mine

To solve the control problem of the surrounding rock of gob-side entry retaining under typical roof conditions in deep mines, we conduct theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and actual measurements. Starting from the plastic zone of the surrounding rock, the serious damage area, the degree and scope of damage, and the dynamic evolution process of the surrounding rock of the gob-side entry retaining are systematically analyzed under four typical roof conditions in deep mines; the expansion and evolution laws of the plastic zone of the surrounding rock are expounded; and a key control technology is proposed. The results indicate that (1) the plastic failure of surrounding rock was concentrated mainly on the coal side and on the floor, especially in the filling body. The plastic zone of the surrounding rock of the gob-side entry retaining with the thick immediate roof was widely distributed and deep, but the plastic failure of the filling body was not obvious. The plastic failure of the surrounding rock of the gob-side entry retaining with the compound roof was mainly concentrated on the roof, filling body, and floor of the filling area. (2) According to the typical roof conditions of the deep gob-side entry retaining, the order of the degree of damage to the surrounding rock was as follows: thick immediate roof, compound roof, thin immediate roof, and thick-hard roof. (3) A “multisupport structure” control system is proposed for the gob-side entry retaining in a deep mine, including measures for enhancing the bearing performance of the anchorage system, increasing the strength of the cataclastic coal-rock mass, enhancing the bearing capacity of the filling body, and increasing the bearing capacity on the tunnel side. The proposed technology was applied to the deep gob-side entry retaining project in the east area of Panyi Mine, and it effectively fulfilled the reuse requirements of gob-side entry retaining in deep mines.
The New ACSM Recommendations for Preventing Cardiovascular Events at Fitness Facilities

Copyright © 2020 American C articipant safety is of utmost importance to all those who work in health fitness facilities. Musculoskeletal injury is the most common exercise-related compliP and it is important to take steps to prevent and minimize these types of injuries. Although adverse cardiovascular events such as sudden cardiac death (SCD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are much less common than musculoskeletal injury, these may lead to heightened morbidity and mortality and, therefore, warrant specific attention. Recently, the AmericanCollege of SportsMedicine (ACSM) published an Expert Consensus Statement (1) that updated and replaced the previous ACSM statement titled “AHA/ACSM Joint Position Statement: Recommendations for Cardiovascular Screening, Staffing, and Emergency Policies at Health/Fitness Facilities,” which was published in June 1998 (2). Selected aspects of the previous statement remain valid, especially the emphasis on the health benefits of exercise and physical activity (PA), the value of a well-trained fitness facility staff, and the necessity of developing and practicing an emergency response plan. However, the updated document presents new approaches to client safety based on the latest scientific advances. Four modulators that directly affect risk management strategies for health fitness facilities have emerged (see Table 1), and these are discussed below. The consensus statement seeks to balance providing a safe exercise environment with the important public health message of promoting PA for all.
The Daily Life of Software Engineers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, software engineers' daily life was disrupted and abruptly forced into remote working from home. This change deeply impacted typical working routines, affecting both well-being and productivity. Moreover, this pandemic will have long-lasting effects in the software industry, with several tech companies allowing their employees to work from home indefinitely if they wish to do so. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze and understand how a typical working day looks like when working from home and how individual activities affect software developers' well-being and productivity. We performed a two-wave longitudinal study involving almost 200 globally carefully selected software professionals, inferring daily activities with perceived well-being, productivity, and other relevant psychological and social variables. Results suggest that the time software engineers spent doing specific activities from home was similar when working in the office. However, we also found some significant mean differences. The amount of time developers spent on each activity was unrelated to their well-being, perceived productivity, and other variables. We conclude that working remotely is not per se a challenge for organizations or developers.
Device-To-Device Communication in 5G Environment: Issues, Solutions, and Challenges

Device-to-device (D2D) communication produces a new dimension in the mobile environment, easing the data exchange process between physically neighboring devices. To achieve an effective utilization of available resources, reduce latency, improve data rates, and increase system capacity, D2D communication utilizes nearby communicating devices. The mobile operator’s action to collect the short-range communications for maintenance of the proximity-based services and improve the performance of networks drives the development of D2D. This paper presents an extensive review of proposed solutions aiming to enhance the security in D2D communication. The main goal of the research is to present an extensive review of the recent advances in various D2D domains such as the discovery process, mode selection schemes, interference management, power control techniques and finally the mode selection for D2D applications for 5G technologies. Additionally, we highlight the open problems and identify the challenges with regard to the D2D communication problem.
Rainfall Standard of Disaster Prediction for Agricultural Droughts in S. Korea

With the climate change adding to the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, drought has devastated large areas of lands in South Korea. Still, the exact beginning and end of the drought is difficult to identify, and this impedes the development and implementation of disaster predictions. Although the drought phenomenon has been well-documented, predictions thereof are limited due to the non-linear and complex temporal fluctuations of the hydrologic factors. Hence, this study set up some reference points for disaster-prediction rainfall based on South Korea’s agricultural drought damage data, to help in drought relief. To set up the proposed reference points for disaster-prediction rainfall, we analyzed rainfall in light of the disaster-prevention relevance to agricultural droughts and the disaster reduction. As an analysis method, rainfall of municipality was calculated through Thiessen’s polygonal method, to apply rainfall weighting value for each rainfall observatory. In addition, the linear regression analysis was applied to suggest the calculation formula for setting the annual disaster reduction rainfall. The results of this study, standard of judgment point for disaster prevention of agricultural drought at the time of disaster management, were analyzed for rainfall for local governments and the whole country. Rather than using various drought indices that are currently developed, policy makers or public servant made suggestions based on rainfall that is most accessible and convenient for judging the timing of agricultural drought. As the disaster-prevention rainfall with agricultural droughts is expected to occur, we established the average annual rainfall of ≤1200 or 100 mm below the preceding year’s average annual rainfall. Moreover, as the disaster-reduction rainfall for agricultural droughts to end, we determined the average monthly rainfall of ≥150 mm.
Adaptive Image Edge Extraction Based on Discrete Algorithm and Classical Canny Operator

In order to improve the accuracy of image edge detection, this paper studies the adaptive image edge detection technology based on discrete algorithm and classical Canny operator. First, the traditional sub-pixel edge detection method is illustrated based on the related literature research. Then, Canny operator is used for detection, the edge model of the quadric curve is established using discrete data, and the adaptive image edge parameters are obtained using one-dimensional gray moment. Experimental results show that the accuracy of feature detection is 99%, which can be applied to the practice of image edge detection to a certain extent.
Molecular-theory of high frequency dielectric susceptibility of nematic and cholesteric nano-composites

A molecular-statistical theory of the high frequency dielectric susceptibility of the nematic nanocomposites has been developed and approximate analytical expressions for the susceptibility have been obtained in terms of the effective polarizability of a nanoparticle in the nematic host, volume fraction of the nanoparticles and the susceptibility of the pure nematic phase. A simple expression for the split of the plasmon resonance of the nanoparticles in the nematic host has been obtained and it has been shown that in the resonance frequency range the high frequency dielectric anisotropy of the nanocomposite may be significantly larger than that of the pure nematic host. As a result all dielectric and optical properties of the nanocomposite related to the anisotropy are significantly enhanced which may be important for emerging applications. The components of the dielectric susceptibility have been calculated numerically for particular nematic nanocomposites with gold and silver nanoparicles as functions of the nanoparticle volume fraction and frequency. The splitting of the plasmon resonance has been observed together with the significant dependence on the nanoparticle volume fraction and the parameters of the nematic host phase.
The Advantages of Polymeric Hydrogels in Calcineurin Inhibitor Delivery

In recent years, polymeric hydrogels (PolyHy) have been extensively explored for their applications in biomedicine as biosensors, in tissue engineering, diagnostic processes, and drug release. The physical and chemical properties of PolyHy indicate their potential use in regulating drug delivery. Calcineurin inhibitors, particularly cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus (TAC), are two important immunosuppressor drugs prescribed upon solid organ transplants. Although these drugs have been used since the 1970s to significantly increase the survival of transplanted organs, there are concerns regarding their undesirable side effects, primarily due to their highly variable concentrations. In fact, calcineurin inhibitors lead to acute and chronic toxicities that primarily cause adverse effects such as hypertension and nephrotoxicity. It is suggested from the evidence that the encapsulation of calcineurin inhibitors into PolyHy based on polysaccharides, specifically alginate (Alg), offers effective drug delivery with a stable immunosuppressive response at the in vitro and in vivo levels. This not only may reduce the adverse effects but also would improve the adherence of the patients by the effective preservation of drug concentrations in the therapeutic ranges.
Primary effects of X-ray and photo-absorption induced excitations in biomolecules.

To see whether single molecule scattering experiments can yield atomic resolution structures of biomolecules, it is necessary to understand the physics underlying the radiation damage processes induced by the X-ray radiation. The first part of this work is concerned with the electron dynamics during the Auger decay as part of the radiation damage processes in single molecule scattering experiments. To test if Hartree-Fock theory suffices to describe auto-ionization processes like the Auger decay, we simulated the electron dynamics in a one-dimensional model system and a beryllium atom after instantaneous core-shell ionization using time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory. The simulations employed both numerical grids as well as B-splines. In a model system containing six particles the initially created core-hole is refilled during the electron dynamics. But no clear emission of a particle into the continuum occurred. During the electron dynamics in a beryllium atom, however, neither a refilling of the initially created core-hole nor the emission of a particle was observed. As two different, flexible basis sets were used it is likely to be the limitation of Hartree-Fock theory causing the absence of the Auger process in the simulations. In addition, we used the approach described above to simulate the electron dynamics after instantaneous valence-shell ionization in two small organic molecules. The electron dynamics exhibit a diffusion-like behavior of the valence hole. These dynamics, however, do not reproduce the charge migration dynamics predicted by correlated ab-initio methods. To compare different hopping algorithms and to validate previous simulation results, excited state molecular dynamics simulations of the photo-isomerization dynamics of a small retinal model and the photo-active yellow protein were per- formed in the second part of this thesis. In the retinal model small differences in the excited state lifetimes and quantum yields are observed among the different hop- ping algorithms. The simulations of the photo-active yellow protein chromophore yield a photo-isomerization pathway that agrees with the isomerization pathway previously predicted. There is, however, a large difference in the excited state life- times among the hopping algorithms. Additionally, the excited state molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the molecular dynamics induced excita- tion energy transfer in a small bi-chromophoric molecule. The molecular dynamics simulations together with ab-initio calculations indicate that molecular dynamics on different nonadiabatically coupled potential energy surfaces can explain the ex- citation energy transfer from one chromophore to another. This offers a different explanation of excitation energy transfer processes in small molecules compared to Forster and Dexter theory.
Assessment and Composition of Fish in the River District Maro Merauke

Maro River is one of the major rivers in Merauke Regency that has a width of about 43-900 m and length of 300 km. The purpose of this study is to find out the type and composition of fish caught using gill net in Maro River, Merauke Regency. This study was conducted in Maro River, Merauke Regency from May to June 2014. It was conducted using survey method. The data analysis included: species composition, relative abundance, availability frequency, diversity index and dominance index. The results of showed 1,084 fish in 17 species with the following composition; 490 of Kurtus gulliveri species (37,01%), 212 of Eleutheronema tetradactylum species (20,33%), 170 of Polydactylus plebeius species (16,30%), 75 of crassilabris Cinetodus species (7,19%), 64 of Cinetodus froggatti species (6,14%), 37 of Argyrosomus amoyensis species (3,55%), 20 of Mugil cephalus species (1,92%), 15 of Megalops cyprinoides species (1,53%), 15 of Thryssa scratchleyi species (1,4%), 12 of Lebtobrama sp species (1,15%), 9 of Lates calcarifer species (0,86%), 7 of Marilyna meraukensis species (0,67%), 7 of Scomberomorus commerson species (0,67%), 5 of Nibea squamosal species (0,48%), 4 of Rhinoptera javanica species (0,38%), 3 of Harpadon microchir species (0,29%) and 1 of Datnioides campbelli species (0,10%). Based on the availability frequency, there are 37 species with a percentage of 100%, 37 species with 67% and 7 species with 33%. The diversity of fish has a moderate value of 1
SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMERIC ANTIOXIDANT DELIVERY SYSTEMS

OF DISSERTATION SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMERIC ANTIOXIDANT DELIVERY SYSTEMS Even though the role of oxidative stress in a variety of disease states is known, strategies to alleviate this oxidative stress by antioxidants have not been able to achieve clinical success. Particularly, treatment of oxidative stress by small molecule antioxidants has not received due attention because of the challenges associated with its delivery. Antioxidant polymers, where small molecule antioxidants are incorporated into the polymer backbone, are an emerging class of materials that can address some of these challenges. In this work, biodegradable polymers incorporating phenolic antioxidants in the polymer backbone were synthesized. Antioxidant polymers were then characterized for their in vitro degradation, antioxidant release and their effect on oxidative stress levels (redox state) in the cells. Trolox, a water-soluble analogue of vitamin E, was polymerized to synthesize poly(trolox ester) with 100% antioxidant content which undergoes biodegradation to release trolox. Nanoparticles of poly(trolox ester) were able to suppress oxidative stress injury induced by metal nanoparticles in an in vitro cell injury model. In another study, we polymerized polyphenolic antioxidants (e.g. curcumin, quercetin) using a modified non-free-radical polymerization poly(β-amino ester) chemistry. This synthesis scheme can be extended to all polyphenolic antioxidants and allows tuning of polymer degradation rate by choosing appropriate co-monomers from a large library of monomers available for β-amino ester chemistry. Poly(antioxidant βamino esters) (PABAE) were synthesized and characterized for their degradation, cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity. PABAE degradation products suppressed oxidative stress levels in the cells confirming antioxidant activity of degradation products.
The Relationships among Experience, Delight, and Recollection for Revisit Intention in Chocolate Exposition

This study examined the relationship among holistic experience and delight, recollection, and revisit intention, in visitors to a chocolate exposition, to confirm the factors influencing their revisit intention. To accomplish this objective, a sample of 280 visitors to the Salon du Chocolat was utilized. The findings revealed that the visitors’ memorable on-site experiences had a positive impact on their sense of delight and recollection. These emotions were shown to positively influence their intention to revisit the exposition. In conclusion, the on-site experiences of sense, feel, think, act, and relate, were the most important determinants of revisit intention among visitors. The findings of this study meaningfully contribute to theory by applying the concepts of experiential marketing to food expositions. Our study also proposes practical suggestions for hosting food expositions in a post-COVID world. The theoretical framework proposed and tested for model validation lay the foundation for future research on experiential marketing of food expositions.