Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the convergence of per capita electricity consumption in ASEAN countries: a spatial econometric analysis

ABSTRACT The convergence of per capita electricity consumption has attracted policy-makers because it provides many important suggestions for common regional policies. However, the convergence hypothesis has much less attention in the emerging country. The study aims to identify a potential absolute-convergence hypothesis of per capita electricity consumption in 10 ASEAN countries from 1980 to 2018. The empirical result by applying a spatial econometric analysis showed that the absolute beta convergence hypothesis of per capita electricity consumption is valid for the ASEAN community context. The findings would provide ASEAN members with more insights to plan sustainable energy development strategies.
Which cyclists manage to cope with the corona crisis in a resilient way? The role of motivational profiles

ABSTRACT Due to the COVID-19-pandemic, all cycling races during spring 2020 were cancelled, thus requiring cyclists to act in resilient ways. This cross-sectional study examined in a sample of 207 cyclists (M age = 26.81) whether different motivational profiles can be identified and whether these profile differences relate to (a) the extent to which cyclists get their basic psychological needs satisfied during this pandemic and (b) the type of self-regulation strategies cyclists use to motivate themselves to continue their training. Cluster analyses revealed four motivational profiles (i.e., a good quality, high quantity, low quantity, and poor quality profile) that differed in terms of autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation. Results indicated that the profile characterised by autonomous motivation (i.e., good quality) yielded the most adaptive outcomes, while the profile characterised by the combination of controlled motivation and amotivation (i.e., poor quality) yielded the least optimal outcomes. This research shows that cyclists’ capacity to cope with the pandemic in a resilient way depends on the presence of both a sufficient dose and high-quality motivation.
Determining interventions for vulnerable families: the nature of disagreement and consensus-seeking

ABSTRACT This article is based on a study that explored how social workers report the casework process of designing interventions for vulnerable families. Previous research has indicated that these processes often lead to disagreements between the involved actors, and the study explored the nature of these disagreements and various strategies used to reach consensus about the forthcoming intervention. The empirical case study was conducted through child welfare investigation units in Sweden. The analysis found five main causes of disagreements: intervention feasibility, problem formulation, costs, procurement contracts and external interests. In relation to strategies for establishing consensus, social workers reported five main strategies for seeking consensus: intervention adaptation, social workers and clients accepting each other’s proposals, reinforced arguments through peer support, accepting the client´s proposal and providing research support. Using theory on street-level workers’ use of discretionary power, the analysis indicates that social workers should first assume the role of a citizen agent where interventions are designed with the focus on client needs while rules and policy are relatively insignificant, followed by assuming the role of a state agent where they argue for the desired intervention that fits the bureaucratic context.
Dewatering of Golden Horn sludge with geotextile tube and determination of optimum operating conditions: A novel approach

Abstract Environmental concerns about Golden Horn's polluted sediments have led to 320,000 m3 of sea dredging, generated annually by bucket dredgers to be stored in landfills without dewatering. This study presents an efficient dewatering methodology and a beneficial alternative to store the sludge. In this scenario, the sludge of a suction-cutter dredger is transported to a pond. The beneficial use of geotextile tubes filled with the sludge at circumferential embankments of pond is evaluated. An anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) is used for conditioning the high plastic silt sludge with 10% solid content. APAM dosage is optimized by Rapid Dewatering Test (RDT) for geotextile material. Microscale SEM-EDS analyzes depicted the flocculated form of the sludge. Laboratory-scale Geotextile Dewatering Test (GDT) shows improvements in the turbidity of filtrate, the quantity of solid particles retained in the tube, and the filtration efficiency, determined to be 92 NTU, 18.5% and 90.5% respectively. In accordance with the ICP-OES analysis, the discharge of the filtrate to the aquatic media is admissible. Undrained shear strength of the dewatered sludge is assessed as low, by Vane and undrained unconsolidated triaxial compression tests. Further improvements of the dewatered sludge with vacuum preloading method were projected by completion of the consolidation tests.
Physico-Chemical, Functional and Proximate Properties of Standardised Millet Flakes

Millets are the 5 most important cereals in the world after wheat, maize, rice and barley. It is a minor cereal containing abundant of nutrients but its consumption is lacking to a certain extent mainly due to the lack of ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat products and processing of millet to prepare ready to cook (RTC) foods can increase its economic and nutritional value. The processing, physical, chemical and nutritional aspects were analysed against the commercially available foxtail and proso flakes to standardise. The decorticated grains were steeped in 5 L of potable water at ambient conditions (30 ± 2oC) for 10 hr, autoclaved at 180oC under the pressure of 20 to 24 lbs/psi for 10 min dried at 50oC in a mechanical dryer to 18 ± 1% moisture content. The processed grains were rolled to flakes in a heavy-duty roller flakes machine with an aperture size of 0.25 mm. The commercial foxtail and proso flakes had higher values for all physical parameters than standardised ones. Original Research Article Sohan et al.; CJAST, 40(12): 88-94, 2021; Article no.CJAST. 66013 89
Climate and environmental context of the Mongol invasion of Syria and defeat at ‘Ayn Jālūt (1258–1260 CE)

After a successful conquest of large parts of Syria in 1258 and 1259 CE, the Mongol army lost the battle of cAyn Jālūt against Mamluks on September 3, 1260 CE. Recognized as a turning point in world history, their sudden defeat triggered the reconfiguration of strategic alliances and geopolitical power not only in the Middle East, but also across much of Eurasia. Despite decades of research, scholars have not yet reached consensus over the causes of the Mongol reverse. Here, we revisit previous arguments in light of climate and environmental changes in the aftermath of one the largest volcanic forcings in the past 2500 years, the Samalas eruption ~1257 CE. Regional tree ring-based climate reconstructions and state-of-the-art Earth System Model simulations reveal cooler and wetter conditions from spring 1258 to autumn 1259 CE for the eastern Mediterranean/Arabian region. We therefore hypothesize that the post-Samalas climate anomaly and associated environmental variability affected an estimated 120,000 Mongol soldiers and up to half a million of their horses during the conquest. More specifically, we argue that colder and wetter climates in 1258 and 1259 CE, while complicating and slowing the campaign in certain areas, such as the mountainous regions in the Caucasus and Anatolia, also facilitated the assault on Syria between January and March 1260. A return to warmer and dryer conditions in the summer of 1260 CE, however, likely reduced the regional carrying capacity and may therefore have forced a mass withdrawal of the Mongols from the region that contributed to the Mamluks’ victory. In pointing to a distinct environmental dependency of the Mongols, we offer a new explanation of their defeat at cAyn Jālūt, which effectively halted the further expansion of the largest ever land-based empire.
MPC-Based UAV Navigation for Simultaneous Solar-Energy Harvesting and Two-Way Communications

The paper is the first work that considers a constrained feedback control strategy to navigate an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a given starting point to a given terminal point while harvesting solar energy and providing a wireless communication service for ground users. Wireless communication channels are stochastic and cannot be known off-line, making the problem of off-line UAV path planning for wireless communication as considered in most existing works less meaningful. We consider the problem of navigating a solar-powered UAV from a starting point to a terminal point to harvest solar energy while serving the two-way communication between multiple pairs of ground users in a complex terrain. The objective is to jointly optimize the UAV’s flight time and its flight path by trading-off between the harvested energy and power consumption subject to the ground users’ minimum throughput requirement. We develop a new model predictive control (MPC) technique to address this problem. Namely, based on the well-known statistics of the air-to-ground (A2G) and ground-to-air (G2A) wireless channels, a predictive control model is proposed at each time-instant, which leads to an optimization problem over a receding horizon for the control design. This problem is non-convex due to the involvement of various optimization variables, which is then solved via novel convex iterations. Simulation results show the merits of the proposed algorithm. The results obtained by the proposed algorithm match with the benchmark non-MPC and offline-MPC approaches.
DNA Barcoding of Two Narrow Endemic Plants; Astragalus Argaeus and Astragalus Stenosemioides from Mount Erciyes, Turkey

The genetic resources and biological diversity of countries are very important. Biodiversity and genetic resources should be protected, especially as endemic species. In this concept, DNA barcoding studies are an effective way to identify an unknown taxon and protected the biodiversity of a country. Astragalus argaeus and A. stenosemioides are narrow endemic species from Mt. Erciyes, Turkey. To determine its phylogenetic relationships and DNA barcoding, sequence data from the chloroplast DNA (matK region) were analyzed by parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods. In this study, A. argaeus, A. stenosemioides samples, and 23 sequences from GenBank, including a closely related species were performed. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the matK gene region could clearly distinguish A. argaeus and A. stenosemioides from its closely related species. DNA barcoding surveys can contribute to taxonomic and biodiversity research, various molecular ecology, and population genetics studies. Also, it is possible to determine the species by separating the matK DNA gene region, which is one of the molecular characters, and A. argaeus and A. stenosemioides have been successfully barcoded for the first time; therefore, it has been shown that this gene region can be used for barcoding.
Paradigms lost and gained: Stakeholder experiences of crisis distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract The physical distancing requirements designed to slow the contagion of COVID-19 instigated sweeping changes to the education sector. School closures in 193 countries brought significant disruption to education and to the lives of children, parents, and teachers. This study explored the experiences of school stakeholders during this period of crisis distance learning (DL). The perspectives of participants in six discrete focus groups of pupils, parents, and teachers at a private school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, were subject to thematic analysis. Researchers identified three key themes, including ‘a need for stakeholder support’, ‘curriculum delivery implications’, and ‘educational outcomes of crisis distance learning’. Conclusions and recommendations will be of interest to researchers, teachers, school leaders, and teacher education providers.
Bullying Conceptualization in Context: Research and Practical Implications

In the bullying literature, there often appears to be a tension between the theoretical conceptualization of bullying by researchers and the practical limitations around measuring bullying among youths in survey research. In contrast to Chang (this issue, DOI 10.1159/000516838), we believe that there is a strong agreement among researchers about how to conceptualize bullying. Researchers almost universally conceptualize bullying as a subset of peer-targeted aggression (behavior intended to cause harm) characterized by repetition or chronicity and a power imbalance between the perpetrating youth and the victimized youth (e.g., Farrington, 1993; Felix et al., 2011; Gladden et al., 2014; Leff & Waasdorp, 2013; Solberg & Olweus, 2003; Vivolo-Kantor et al., 2014). Rather, the inconsistency is around how to measure bullying among youths. The question, then, is around construct validity – the extent to which our measures of bullying are actually measuring bullying, and not more general aggression or victimization, or something else entirely. In this review, we discuss possible causes of variations in prevalence rates besides differences in bullying measurement as well as problems with using the word “bullying” and defining bullying in survey research. We also discuss the added empirical value in the ability to assess bullying separately from more general aggression and practical reasons that some researchers use simplified measurement. We close with a caution against so narrowly defining constructs that it limits researchers’ abilities to understand and promote the safety and well-being of youths.
Bayesian Variable Selection For High-Dimensional Data With An Ordinal Response: Application Predicting Prognostic Risk Group In Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous cancer of the blood, though specific recurring cytogenetic abnormalities in AML strongly are associated with attaining complete response after induction chemotherapy, remission duration, and survival. Therefore recurring cytogenetic abnormalities have been used to segregate patients into favorable, intermediate, and adverse prognostic risk groups. However, it is unclear how expression of genes is associated with these prognostic risk groups. We postulate that expression of genes monotonically associated with these prognostic risk groups may yield important insights into leukemogenesis. Therefore, in this paper we propose penalized Bayesian ordinal response models to predict prognostic risk group using gene expression data. We consider a double exponential prior, a spike-and-slab normal prior, a spike-and-slab double exponential prior, and a regression-based approach with variable inclusion indicators for modeling our high-dimensional ordinal response, prognostic risk group, and identify genes through hypothesis tests using Bayes Factor. Results: Gene expression was ascertained using Affymetrix HG-U133Plus2.0 GeneChips for 97 favorable, 259 intermediate, and 97 adverse risk AML patients. When applying our penalized Bayesian ordinal response models, genes identified for model inclusion were consistent among the four different models. Additionally, the genes included in the models were biologically plausible, as most have been previously associated with either AML or other types of cancer. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that our proposed penalized Bayesian ordinal response models are useful for performing variable selection for high-dimensional genomic data and have the potential to identify genes relevantly associated with an ordinal phenotype.
Polar silicones: structure-dielectric properties relationship

Abstract A series of polar silicones was synthesized in order to compare their dielectric properties. Different substituents with high dipole moment (epoxy, pyridyl, aldehyde, cyano-, nitroazobenzene) were attached by hydrosilylation to a poly(dimethyl-methylhydro)siloxane. Thiol-ene addition on a dimethyl-methylvinyl siloxane copolymer with similar composition was also used for chemical modifications with chloro- or carboxy- derivatives. This approach allowed comparison of properties with emphasis on dielectric behavior measured in liquid state, as a preliminary step in design and preparation of materials suitable for dielectric elastomers. Although a relatively low content of polar groups was used (8%), permittivity values of 5.4 and even 7.4 were achieved (at 10 kHz), either due to the large dipole moment or to the presence of important amounts of moisture. The water sorption capacity of the polar silicones was investigated by dynamic vapor sorption, while structural parameters of model molecules were calculated, in order to correlate the dielectric properties with the polarity/hydrophilicity of the substituents to the silicone chain. A combined effect of the calculated dipole moment, molar polarizability, molar volume, and the measured water sorption capacity on dielectric permittivity was observed.
Optimization of Styrene Reactor Using Tabu Search and Genetic Algorithm Methods

This paper deals with multi-objective optimization of styrene reactor using Tabu search (TS) and genetic algorithm (GA) methods. Styrene is produced commercially by catalytic dehydrogenation of ethyl benzene. As styrene is an important monomer, the capacity of the plant is usually very high, as a result the investment cost is also very high, and even a small enhancement in the plant operation can generate major income. The adiabatic reactor using the pseudo homogeneous model was considered in this study for maximizing the styrene conversion and selectivity. A computer program was written to simulate an adiabatic reactor in order to evaluate the possibility of optimizing the process in simulation environment. The simulation results were compared with the experimental data. This comparison indicated that the value of overall mean squarer of errors for conversion of the compounds was 7.09E-05 and overall means relative error of them was 2.18 percent. In order to optimize the performance of the reactors, conversion of styrene was adopted as the objective function. Six decision variables, namely, ethyl benzene feed temperature at the entrance of each bed, pressure, the ratio of steam to ethyl benzene and initial ethyl benzene flow rate were used for the optimization. The results of GA optimization showed final conversion of styrene increased from an initial value of 0.710 to 0.75 after 100 generation of population. Applying Tabu algorithm optimization, the value rose from 0.725 to 0.813 after generation of 100 neighborhoods. The results revealed that the CPU time needed to optimize the reactor for TS was shorter than that of GA method. In addition, using the same iteration numbers for both methods, the optimum value of styrene conversion was greater when TS method was applied.
Evaluation of Temperature and Precipitation Simulations in CMIP6 Models Over the Tibetan Plateau

This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of the mean and extreme surface air temperature and precipitation in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) multimodel ensemble simulations over the Tibetan Plateau. Simulations from 29 climate models are compared against gridded observations for the period 1961–2012. Results show that models reasonably reproduce the overall spatial patterns of the 1961–2012 averages of seasonal mean temperature and precipitation. Nevertheless, models tend to underestimate mean temperature and overestimate precipitation accumulations. To be specific, the multimodel mean estimates of seasonal average temperatures over the plateau are 0.5°C–2.6°C colder than observed, while the corresponding estimates of seasonal precipitation accumulations are 218% (spring: March–May), 76% (summer: June–August), 129% (autumn: September–November), and 533% (winter: December–February) of those observed. As in observations, models also well capture increasing trend of mean temperature and precipitation in all seasons but underestimate the rates of increasing trends for both variables in all seasons. Models’ ability to simulate temperature and precipitation extremes is also evaluated in terms of a set of chosen extreme indices defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices. On average, models tend to underestimate the averages of annual maximum daily maximum temperature, annual minimum daily minimum temperature, frost days, warm nights, and consecutive dry days but overestimate the corresponding averages of annual maximum 5‐day precipitation accumulations and simply daily intensity. Generally, models are able to simulate the signs of the trends in extreme indices but underestimate their magnitudes and misrepresent spatial patterns.
Innovation drift: the influence of digital artefacts on organizing for innovation

ABSTRACT The literature on digital innovation often relies on examples of radical, even paradigm-changing novelties. In order to develop such radical innovations, organizational separation of innovation efforts has been advocated by many as an effective strategy. We have conducted a longitudinal case study of a radical innovation project at a born-digital company. The company established a separate organization to develop radical innovation, but over time, the innovation drifted from radical to incremental. Even keeping the organization separate proved difficult. In explaining the events in the case study, we follow the argument that new theories of digital innovation can be developed with reference to the specific properties of digital artefacts. We outline how properties like editability and distributability may contribute to innovation drift, i.e., the proclivity of radical innovation ambitions to gradually drift towards more incremental realizations. Due to their nature, digital artefacts can diffuse through the organization and, thus, pose a challenge to the effectiveness of organizational separation as a strategy for innovation. With this work, we contribute to the literature on digital innovation by responding to calls for research on new theories of digital innovation and the demand for greater appreciation of digital materiality in organizing. We also challenge the prevailing view of digital innovations as radical and aim to open a debate on the possibility and considerations surrounding incremental digital innovations.