Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adjacency Neighborhood Effects and Owner-Assessed Home Values

Adjacency neighborhood effects such as neighbor interactions or perceived neighborhood quality have been neglected in the housing literature due to a lack of data. We investigate the impact of these effects on the housing wealth perceived by homeowners. Using a national longitudinal survey, we find that perceived neighborhood quality positively impacts owner-assessed home values. However, this effect is driven by homeowners ’ assessment of their neighborhoods ’ quality relative to other neighborhoods rather than their neighborhoods ’ perceived cleanliness or upkeep. Depending on the financial characteristics of homeowners, we also find neighbor interactions and perceived neighborhood safety to have a significant relation with self-assessed home values. Trust and support among neighbors and joint feel of the home and neighborhood on the other hand have no relation with estimated values. While neighborhood quality consistently explains owner-assessed values, home quality only has a relation with value estimates for homeowners with certain financial characteristics. Considering the importance of perceived housing wealth for household financial decisions as well as transaction prices, our findings have implications for policy makers and developers.
In Silico Prediction of Anti-Infective and Cell-Penetrating Peptides from Thalassophryne nattereri Natterin Toxins

The therapeutic potential of venom-derived peptides, such as bioactive peptides (BAPs), is determined by specificity, stability, and pharmacokinetics properties. BAPs, including anti-infective or antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), share several physicochemical characteristics and are potential alternatives to antibiotic-based therapies and drug delivery systems, respectively. This study used in silico methods to predict AMPs and CPPs derived from natterins from the venomous fish Thalassophryne nattereri. Fifty-seven BAPs (19 AMPs, 8 CPPs, and 30 AMPs/CPPs) were identified using the web servers CAMP, AMPA, AmpGram, C2Pred, and CellPPD. The physicochemical properties were analyzed using ProtParam, PepCalc, and DispHred tools. The membrane-binding potential and cellular location of each peptide were analyzed using the Boman index by APD3, and TMHMM web servers. All CPPs and two AMPs showed high membrane-binding potential. Fifty-four peptides were located in the plasma membrane. Peptide immunogenicity, toxicity, allergenicity, and ADMET parameters were evaluated using several web servers. Sixteen antiviral peptides and 37 anticancer peptides were predicted using the web servers Meta-iAVP and ACPred. Secondary structures and helical wheel projections were predicted using the PEP-FOLD3 and Heliquest web servers. Fifteen peptides are potential lead compounds and were selected to be further synthesized and tested experimentally in vitro to validate the in silico screening. The use of computer-aided design for predicting peptide structure and activity is fast and cost-effective and facilitates the design of potent therapeutic peptides. The results demonstrate that toxins form a natural biotechnological platform in drug discovery, and the presence of CPP and AMP sequences in toxin families opens new possibilities in toxin biochemistry research.
Improved image noise level estimation based on segmentation and block processing

: Accurate estimation of noise parameters in digital images is of great significance to improve the quality of image processing. Principal component analysis is an important means of image denoising, and the traditional method is to estimate the whole image. Due to the complexity of image content, this paper proposes a preprocessing method based on superpixel segmentation to process the largest possible smooth block in the image. Compared with contrast method, the estimated value of the proposed method is closer to the true value.
Research on the Impact of Members’ Social Capital within Agricultural Cooperatives on Their Adoption of IPM in China

Agricultural cooperatives are effective facilitators of green production technology promotion. What is the role of social capital within agricultural cooperatives with the most competitive advantage in technology promotion? Using the survey data of 465 citrus-planting cooperative members in Sichuan Province, this study uses the IV-probit model and mediating effect model to analyze the impact role of social capital within agricultural cooperatives on its members’ adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) technology. The bootstrap method is also used to test the robustness of the parameter estimates. The results show that: (1) the social capital within agricultural cooperatives has a significant positive impact on IPM adoption; (2) cooperative members’ IPM cognition has a partial mediating effect on the impact of the social capital within agricultural cooperatives on its members’ adoption of IPM technology (more than 51.37%). Therefore, among all the optional IPM technology promotion measures of cooperatives, multi-dimensional accumulation of the social capital within agricultural cooperatives and promotion of IPM technology awareness level of members is a viable path.
Algorithmic News Diversity and Democratic Theory: Adding Agonism to the Mix

Abstract The role news recommenders can play in stimulating news diversity is receiving increasing amounts of attention. Democratic theory plays an important role in this debate because it helps explain why news diversity is important and which kinds of news diversity should be pursued. In this article, I observe that the current literature on news recommenders and news diversity largely draws on a narrow set of theories of liberal and deliberative democracy. Another strand of democratic theory often referred to as ‘agonism’ is often ignored. This, I argue, is a mistake. Liberal and deliberative theories of democracy focus on the question of how political disagreements and conflicts can be resolved in a rational and legitimate manner. Agonism, to the contrary, stresses the ineradicability of conflict and the need to make conflict productive. This difference in thinking about the purpose of democratic politics can also lead to new ways of thinking about the value of news diversity and role algorithmic news recommenders should play in promoting it. The overall aim of the article is (re)introduce agonistic theory to the news recommender context and to argue that agonism deserves more serious attention.
Threshold network of a financial market using the P-value of correlation coefficients

Threshold methods in financial networks are important tools for obtaining important information about the financial state of a market. Previously, absolute thresholds of correlation coefficients have been used; however, they have no relation to the length of time. We assign a threshold value depending on the size of the time window by using the P-value concept of statistics. We construct a threshold network (TN) at the same threshold value for two different time window sizes in the Korean Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI). We measure network properties, such as the edge density, clustering coefficient, assortativity coefficient, and modularity. We determine that a significant difference exists between the network properties of the two time windows at the same threshold, especially during crises. This implies that the market information depends on the length of the time window when constructing the TN. We apply the same technique to Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P500) and observe similar results.
Generalized Coherent Photogalvanic Effect in Coherently Seeded Waveguides

The coherent photogalvanic effect leads to the generation of a current under the absorption interference of coherent beams and allows for the inscription of space‐charge gratings leading to a second‐order susceptibility (χ(2)). The inscribed grating automatically results in quasi‐phase‐matching between the interfering beams. Theoretical and experimental studies, considering the degenerate case of second‐harmonic generation, show significant conversion efficiency enhancements. However, the link between the theory and experiment is not fully established such that general guidelines and achievable conversion efficiency for a given material platform are still unclear. In this work, the phenomenological model of coherent photogalvanic effect in optical waveguides is theoretically analyzed. This model predicts the existence of non‐degenerate sum‐frequency generation quasi‐phase‐matching gratings, which is confirmed experimentally for the first time. Furthermore, the time dynamics of the space‐charge grating inscription in coherent photogalvanic process is formulated. Based on the developed theoretical equations, the material parameters governing the process for stoichiometric silicon nitride are extracted. The results obtained provide a basis to compare the performances and potentials of different platforms. This work not only supplements the theory of coherent photogalvanic effect, but also enables us to identify critical parameters and limiting factors for the inscription of χ(2) gratings.
Non-Life Insurance Mathematics: An Introduction with the Poisson Process

Collective Risk Models. - The Basic Model. - Models for the Claim Number Process. - The Total Claim Amount. - Ruin Theory. - Experience Rating. - Bayes Estimation. - Linear Bayes Estimation. - A Point Process Approach to Collective Risk Theory. - The General Poisson Process. - Poisson Random Measures in Collective Risk Theory. - Weak Convergence of Point Processes. - Special Topics. - An Excursion to L#x00E9 vy Processes. - Cluster Point Processes.
Monitoring Systems Mediate Human Capital to Performance of Government Aided Primary Schools in Isingiro District, Uganda. “Using Med Graph program Approach”

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to establish whether the Monitoring systems mediate the relationship between human capital and performance of government aided primary schools in Isingiro District, Uganda. Methodology: A cross sectional research design and post-positivist paradigm were used to collect data from 118 government aided primary schools in Isingiro district, Uganda where 475 respondents participated in the study. The study used closed-ended questionnaires, interview guide and checklists. The schools to be included were selected using simple random sampling and were considered as unit of analysis while the respondents who included District officials, head teachers, teachers and school management committee (SMC) members formed the unit of enquiry, these were selected purposively based on the knowledge they had on the subject matter. Each school selected, provided the information from the respondents who in this case were the head teacher, two (2) teachers and a chairperson of school management committee member. The research was guided by the null hypothesis, Ho1: Monitoring systems do not mediate the relationship between human capital and performance of government aided primary schools in Isingiro District, Uganda. Findings: The findings of the study revealed that the relationship between human capital and performance of government aided primary schools is partially mediated by monitoring systems, hence rejecting the null hypothesis (Ho1) that there is no mediation. The results signified that monitoring systems partially mediates human capital and performance of government aided primary schools in Isingiro District, Uganda. The Unique Contribution to Theory and Practice: This study suggest to planners and managers of government aided primary schools that, since human capital is important for the improvement of primary school performance, it is advisable that the government should impose monitoring systems to oversee the programmes and activities taking place in government aided primary school which possibly caters for teachers’ productivity, school developments and hence improving its performance.
Effect of different sources of zinc in ovo injection on hatching traits, growth and some physiological parameters of broiler chicks

: A total of 546 fertile eggs were divided randomly to 7 treatments in three replicates, 26 eggs in each, as follows: The 1 st treatment served as a control (without injection), the 2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th treatments were injected with 0.1 ml deionized water containing 25, 50 and 75 μg/egg zinc sulfate, respectively and treatments 5 th , 6 th and 7 th injected with 0.1 ml deionized water containing 25, 50 and 75 μg/egg ZnO-NPs, respectively. Eggs injection was performed at the 9 th day of incubation. The results could be summarized as follow: The treatments did not cause any significant differences in the hatchability %, embryonic mortality, chick weight, chick weigh %, the relative weight of residual yolk sac, heart, liver,gizzard and proventriculus to body weight (BW) or yolk free body weight of chicks at one day of age , slaughter parameters ( percent of carcass, breast, thighs, abdominal fat, liver, heart and gizzard) at 35 days of age or hematological parameters and plasma constituents at one and 35 days of age compared to the control . Significant differences were found in body weight (BW) at 21 and 35 days of age, and the highest value was recorded of the group 75 µg/egg zinc sulfate followed by 25 µg/egg ZnO-NPs inovoinjection. It is concluded that using of 75 μg/egg zinc sulfate or 25 μg/egg ZnO-NPs in ovo injection at 9 days of incubation, could be recommended to , enhance the growth performance traits without harmful effects on the physiological responses.
Approaches to analytical analysis of active filter behaviour

The paper deals with sample structures of active filters. The aim is the evaluation of an analytical model for analysing the influence that filter parameters have on behaviour of the device. The results give also the opportunity to carry out useful guidelines for filter design. By means of well-known mathematical procedures the traditional mathematical model of active filter is arranged to be suitable of an analytical solution of the system of differential equations. Solutions are expressed as a function of the time and by means of inner parameters. Therefore it is possible a simple evaluation of the influence of the parameter values on output filter currents.
Enhancement of Large Renewable Distributed Generation Penetration Levels at the Point of Common Coupling

The occurrence of distortion and over voltage at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) of Renewable Distributed Generation (RDG) limits its penetration levels to the power system and the RDG integration is expected to play a crucial role in power system transformation. For its penetrations to be sustained without disconnection from the system, there must be a solution to the voltage rise, distortion, unbalanced current and grid reactive power control strategy at PCC. It is an IEEE-1547 requirement that RDG integration to the power system should be regulated at PCC to avoid disconnection from the network due to power quality criteria. RDG integration must meet up with this specification to uphold power quality and avoid damage to the sensitive equipment connected at PCC. In this paper, voltage rise, unbalanced current, reactive power and distortion are being managed at PCC while Distribution Network (DN) accepts more RDG penetration levels without violation of the IEEE and South Africa grid code act. Active Power Filter and Full Bridge Multi-Level Converter (FBMC) are considered to safeguard power quality to the grid, they are modelled in MATLAB/SIMULINK and the results obtained shown that the proposed strategy can successfully regulate voltage rise, distortion, unbalanced current and continuously improve power quality with RDG integration at PCC. The proposed method’s key innovation is the strategic generation and absorption of reactive power to curtain an overvoltage, reverse power flow, and distortion at the PCC, allowing more RDG penetration levels to the grid without disconnection while maintaining the standard requirement for power quality at the PCC. The simulation outcomes validate the superiority of the FBMC over the active power filter with respect of reactive power generation/absorption, dynamic response, and damping capability.
Exploring the impact of PEGylation on the cell-nanomicelle interactions by AFM-based single-molecule force spectroscopy and force tracing.

PEGylation has been considered the gold standard method for the modification of various drug delivery systems since the last century. However, the impact of PEGylation on the dynamic interaction between drug carriers and cell membranes has not been quantitatively clarified. Herein, the cellular binding and receptor-mediated endocytosis of a model PEGylated polypeptide nanomicelle were systematically investigated at the single-particle level using AFM-based single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) and force tracing. A self-assembled elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) nanomicelle, which is capable of cross-linking, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) modification, and PEGylation was prepared. The cross-linked ELP-based nanomicelles exhibited outstanding stability in a broad temperature range of 4-40 °C, which facilitate the drug loading, as well as our cell-nanomicelle study at the single particle level. The unbinding force between the cross-linked ELP-based nanomicelles and the GRP receptor (GRPR)-containing cell (PC-3) membranes was quantitatively measured by AFM-SMFS. It is found that the PEGylated GRP-displaying nanomicelles exhibit the highest unbinding force, indicating the enhanced specific binding effect of PEGylation. Furthermore, the receptor-mediated endocytosis of the cross-linked ELP-based nanomicelles was monitored with the help of force tracing based on AFM-SMFS. Our results show that PEGylation decreases the endocytic force, duration, and engulfment depth of the PEGylated GRP-displaying nanomicelles, but increases their endocytic velocity, which results from the elimination of non-specific interactions during endocytosis. These observations demonstrate the diverse and complex roles of PEGylation on the interaction of polypeptide nanomicelles to cell membranes and may shed light on the rational design of organic polymer-based drug delivery systems aiming for active and passive targeting strategies. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: A self-assembled elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) nanomicelle, which can be easily cross-linked, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) modified, and PEGylated, is designed. The AFM-SMFS experiment shows that PEGylation can enhance specific binding of the nanomicelles to the receptors on cell membranes. The force tracing experiment indicates that PEGylation decreases the endocytic force as well as engulfment depth of the nanomicelles through the elimination of non-specific interactions. PEGylation can benefit the drug delivery systems aiming at active targeting, while might not be an ideal modification for drug carriers designed for passive targeting, whose cellular uptake mainly depends on non-specific interactions.
Secure-Reliable Transmission Designs for Full-Duplex Receiver With Finite-Alphabet Inputs

This paper studies a convincingly secure transmission framework under an allowable outage probability for practical finite-alphabet inputs, where a full-duplex receiver (Bob) is taken into account to emit the artificial noise for deteriorating the eavesdropper’s decoding performance. We develop a secure-reliable mechanism to take the place of prior secrecy rate (SR) maximization strategy, where a closed form expression is invoked for substituting the non-closed SR expression upon exploiting the multi-exponential decay fitting approach. Hence, the intractable expectation operation over a large number of noise samples is circumvented. Moreover, a pair of critical probabilities of the reliable transmission and secure outage are first analyzed, and then a low-complexity optimization scheme is formulated. Apart from designing the transmission scheme for classically secure networks consisting of a transmitter, Bob and an eavesdropper, we further carry out an investigation on conceiving a secure-reliable strategy against multiple Eves for improving the system’s extensibility. To this end, analytical expressions of both the reliability outage and secrecy outage probabilities for multiple-Eve scenarios are also derived. Furthermore, a pragmatic iterative solution is conceived for addressing the corresponding max-min optimization problem. Finally, the simulation results validate the significance of our considered secure-reliable transmission in terms of the average SR performance attained.
A Survey on Market-Inspired Intersection Control Methods for Connected Vehicles

Recent advances in wireless communication technology allow for the cooperative coordination of vehicles and infrastructures under vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication protocols. V2X communication protocols are shaping a new reality for intersection control, allowing for individual driver preferences to be taken into account, such as heterogeneity in terms of value of time and willingness to pay to reduce individual delay. In this context, different economic instruments have been proposed for intersection control under connected vehicles, including various types of auctions, direct payments, and credit schemes. This study offers a comprehensive review on market-inspired control approaches under connected vehicles for both signalized and unsignalized intersections, focusing on auction-based and direct transaction schemes among drivers as incentive mechanisms for aligning user and system objectives. A structured way of analyzing the existing literature is introduced, underlining relevant methodological and practical issues. The key aspects of market-based control schemes are outlined, including priority allocation, types of agents employed, incentive compatibility, solution approaches, and validation. Emerging challenges for the implementation of such approaches and future research directions are then identified and discussed.
The Investigation of the Impact of Toxicity of Metals on Oxygen-Evolving Complex in Spinacia oleracea

The current article reported the investigation of metal toxicity on the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) in Spinacia oleracea related to depletion in chloride ion concentration, an essential part of the photosystem (II). The greenhouse experiment was conducted where S. oleracea was cultivated in three replicates with control plants (plants “a”) treated with tap water. Moreover, 30 ppm of Cu2+ ion solution and Pb2+ ion solution was used to irrigate the rest of the plants, labeled as plants “b” and “c”, respectively, on alternative days. Advanced technologies such as Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), and UV-visible Spectrophotometry were used to monitor the essential nutrients in leaves to validate the function of the photosystem (I and II). Reduced Cl− ions contents showed that both metals (Cu2+ and Pb2+) altered the essential elements of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem (II), required to maintain the coordination structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster. SEM analysis revealed the modified leaf structure of the S. oleracea under Cu2+ and Pb2+ accumulation due to which distorted cellular structure, reduced surface area, and the (shattered) stomatal opening compared to the plants “a” were observed. The EDS analysis of plants “b” and “c” showed high oxygen contents followed by reduced chloride contents over plants “a”, reflecting the infirmity of OEC to push out oxygen, which leads to generating oxidative stress. The lower pigment concentration in leaves of metal-contaminated plants “b” and “c” impacts carbon assimilation, which is linked to the reduced stomatal opening and influences the gaseous exchange rates. Additionally, increased contents of K+ and Ca2+ may be due to self-defense mechanisms under low chloride contents to speed up oxygen evolution to protect plants against oxidative stress. It was concluded that Cu2+ and Pb2+ metal toxicity influences essential Cl− and K+ contents, which modify the photosystem II system; subsequently, a reduced growth rate was observed.