Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stochastic comparisons of parallel systems with heterogeneous exponentiated half logistic-F components

Abstract This study endeavors to compare two parallel systems delineated via exponentiated half logistic-F distributions with both identical (F) and non-identical (F 1 and F 2) baseline distribution functions. The comparisons are carried out with respect to the usual stochastic order as well as the reversed hazard rate order through the majorized shape parameters of the distributions.
An Aerosol Climatology and Implications for Clouds at a Remote Marine Site: Case Study Over Bermuda

Aerosol characteristics and aerosol–cloud interactions remain uncertain in remote marine regions. We use over a decade of data (2000–2012) from the NASA AErosol RObotic NETwork, aerosol and wet deposition samples, satellite remote sensors, and models to examine aerosol and cloud droplet number characteristics at a representative open ocean site (Bermuda) over the Western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO). Annual mean values were as follows: aerosol optical depth (AOD) = 0.12, Ångström Exponent (440/870 nm) = 0.95, fine mode fraction = 0.51, asymmetry factor = 0.72 (440 nm) and 0.68 (1020 nm), and Aqua‐MODIS cloud droplet number concentrations = 51.3 cm−3. The winter season (December–February) was characterized by high sea salt optical thickness and the highest aerosol extinction in the lowest 2 km. Extensive precipitation over the WNAO in winter helps contribute to the low FMFs in winter (∼0.40–0.50) even though air trajectories often originate over North America. Spring and summer had more pronounced influence from sulfate, dust, organic carbon, and black carbon. Volume size distributions were bimodal with a dominant coarse mode (effective radii: 1.85–2.09 µm) and less pronounced fine mode (0.14–0.16 µm), with variability in the coarse mode likely due to different characteristic sizes for transported dust (smaller) versus regional sea salt (larger). Extreme pollution events highlight the sensitivity of this site to long‐range transport of urban emissions, dust, and smoke. Differing annual cycles are identified between AOD and cloud droplet number concentrations, motivating a deeper look into aerosol–cloud interactions at this site.
Bead on a uniformly rotating rod: why does the bead move out if there is no force in the radial direction?

Problems involving rotating systems analysed from an inertial frame, without invoking fictitious forces, is something that freshman students find difficult to understand in an introductory mechanics course. In this article we try to see what could be the factors that lead to this difficulty and propose a set of arguments that could be used to resolve the confusion. We take a specific example of a bead sliding without friction on a rotating rod to address the issues involved. After solving the problem in the inertial reference frame by integrating the equations of motion expressed in the plane polar coordinate system, we carry out a consistency check on how the radial motion can be accounted for by the force that the rod exerts on the bead. We hope that going through this exercise would help students to get more comfortable with understanding problems in a similar mould.
Identification of surface acid centers of magnesium chloride by the ESR method

The ESR study of adsorption of stable nitroxyl radicals [2,2,6,6,-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-oxopiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPON)] was carried out to estimate the concentration of Lewis acid centers on the surface of magnesium chloride. When TEMPON is adsorbed on MgCl 2 , two forms of the adsorbed radical are formed, which correspond to two types of acid centers. A change in the amount of TiCl 4 that is strongly bonded to magnesium chloride agrees satisfactorily with a change in the concentration of acid centers in the samples. The quantity of TiCl 4 strongly bonded to the support depends on the temperature of the interaction and increases as the temperature rises from 0 to 98°C. The maximum amount of strongly bonded TiCl 4 exceeds substantially the concentration of surface acid centers of the support.
Evaluation of Electrochemical Hydride Generation in the Speciation of Inorganic Arsenic in Salts and Organic Acid Medium

An atomic fluorescence spectrophotometer for arsenic determination has been used to study the effects of a cathodic electrolyte in the performance of electrochemical hydride generation (ECHG) with a Zn and Pb cathode. The results show that the presence of Zn(II) in the K 2 SO 4 cathodic electrolyte can markedly increase the fluorescence intensity of As(III) and reduce the impact of cathode erosion on the stability of the signal intensity; the fluorescence intensity of As(V) is almost totally suppressed. Thus, arsenic in different oxidation states can be detected with the ECHG technique. The possible mechanisms of these effects are discussed in detail. Moreover, the problem of sealing the cell assembly has been resolved by using a new sealing method. The effects of organic acids on the electrochemical hydride process were also studied. The effects of the electrolytic conditions and interfering ions on the ECHG were investigated. The repeatability, evaluated by the relative standard deviation (%RSD) for 11 replicate determinaitons of 20 μg L -1 As(III) in mixed salt soution and in formic acid, was 2.2% and 1.5%, respectively. The detection limits, based on three times the standard deviation of the blank (3σ), were 0.04 μg L -1 and 0.07 μg L -1 , respectively.
‘He seems odd’: the effects of risk-irrelevant information and actuarial risk estimates on mock jurors’ perceptions of sexual recidivism risk

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that mock and actual jurors give little weight to actuarial sexual offending recidivism risk estimates when making decisions regarding civil commitment for so-called sexually violent predators (SVPs). We hypothesized that non-risk related factors, such as irrelevant contextual information and jurors’ information-processing style, would influence mock jurors’ perceptions of sexual recidivism risk. This preregistered experimental study examined the effects of mock jurors’ (N = 427) need for cognition (NFC), irrelevant contextual information in the form of the offender’s social attractiveness, and an actuarial risk estimate on mock jurors’ estimates of sexual recidivism risk related to a simulated SVP case vignette. Mock jurors exposed to negative risk-irrelevant characteristics of the offender estimated sexual recidivism risk as higher than mock jurors exposed to positive information about the offender. However, this effect was no longer significant after mock jurors had reviewed Static-99R actuarial risk estimate information. We found no support for the hypothesis that the level of NFC moderates the relationship between risk-irrelevant contextual information and risk estimates. Future research could explore additional individual characteristics or attitudes among mock jurors that may influence perceptions of sexual recidivism risk and insensitivity to actuarial risk estimates.
Campus Attitudes Toward Academic and Social Inclusion of Students with Intellectual Disability

Empirical evidence suggests that college attendance by students with intellectual disability (ID) results in numerous short- and long-term academic and social benefits. However, insufficient literature has explored the attitudes of constituent groups of universities toward the social and academic inclusion of students with ID before introducing these students to educational programs on campus. This paper reports on the results of a survey applied to administrators, faculty, staff, and students of a Southeastern public university to examine their attitudes toward students with ID in college academics and social activities on campus. The differences in attitudes were also examined based on the participants’ academic discipline, gender, and role within the academic community. The results indicate that all constituencies on campus had positive attitudes toward the participation of students with ID in college academics. However, significant differences were found based on their academic disciplines; participants from the College of Education had the most positive attitudes, while those from the College of Business had the least positive responses. Recommendations for future research are included. The article emphasizes the benefits of planning inclusive post-secondary programs to include students with ID and create a welcoming education environment to provide the best possible education to all students.
Hydroxyl Groups on Annular Ring-B Dictate the Affinities of Flavonol–CCL2 Chemokine Binding Interactions

Owing to the astounding biological properties, dietary plant flavonoids have received considerable attention toward developing unique supplementary food sources to prevent various ailments. Chemokines are chemotactic proteins involved in leukocyte trafficking through their interactions with G-protein-coupled receptors and cell surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). CCL2 chemokine, a foremost member of CC chemokines, is associated with the pathogenesis of various inflammatory infirmities, thus making the CCL2-Receptor (CCR2)/GAG axis a potential pharmacological target. The current study is designed to unravel the structural details of CCL2–flavonol interactions. Molecular interactions between flavonols (kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin) with human/murine CCL2 orthologs and their monomeric/dimeric variants were systematically investigated using a combination of biophysical approaches. Fluorescence studies have unveiled that flavonols interact with CCL2 orthologs specifically but with differential affinities. The dissociation constants (Kd) were in the range of 10–5–10–7 μM. The NMR- and computational docking-based outcomes have strongly suggested that the flavonols interact with CCL2, comprising the N-terminal and β1- and β3-sheets. It has also been observed that the number of hydroxyl groups on the annular ring-B imposed a significant cumulative effect on the binding affinities of flavonols for CCL2 chemokine. Further, the binding surface of these flavonols to CCL2 orthologs was observed to be extensively overlapped with that of the receptor/GAG-binding surface, thus suggesting attenuation of CCL2-CCR2/GAG interactions in their presence. Considering the pivotal role of CCL2 during monocyte/macrophage trafficking and the immunomodulatory features of these flavonols, their direct interactions highlight the promising role of flavonols as nutraceuticals.
Preparation and characterization of Polyacrylonitrile/ Manganese Dioxides- based Carbon Nanofibers via electrospinning process

This research reports the production of precursor polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/ manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanofibers (NFs) via electrospinning method followed by stabilization and carbonization processes. Nowadays, electrospinning has become a suitable method in manufacturing continuous NFs, thus it is employed to fabricate NFs in this study. The microstructural properties and adsorption competencies of the produced NFs were also studied. The NFs were prepared by electrospinning the polymer solution of Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Manganese Dioxide (MnO2) in, N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent. The factors considered in this study were various polymer PAN/MnO2 concentrations which will significantly affect the specific surface area, fiber morphology and the diameter of the NFs prepared. Subsequently, heat treatment is applied by setting up the stabilization temperature at 275 °C and carbonization temperature at 800 °C with constant dwelling time (30 min). Nitrogen gas at constant rate 0.2 L/min was used for stabilization and carbonization with the stabilization rate (2 °C/min) and carbonization rate (5 °C/min). The carbon nanofibers (CNFs) produced were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area and Fourier Transmission Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). It was found that the PAN/MnO2 CNFs were successfully produced with the carbonization temperature of 800 °C. The prepared PAN/MnO2 CNFs prepared showed an enhanced in specific surface area about two times compared to it precursor NFs.
Evaluating the Structure from Motion Technique for Measurement of Bed Morphology in Physical Model Studies

The selection of instrumentation for data acquisition in physical model studies depends on type and resolution of data to be recorded, time frame of the model study, available instrumentation alternatives, availability of skilled personnel and overall budget of the model study. The available instrumentation for recording bed levels or three-dimensional information on geometry of a physical model range from simple manual gauges to sophisticated laser or acoustic sensors. In this study, Structure from Motion (SfM) technique was applied, on three physical model studies of different scales and study objectives, as a cheap, quicker, easy to use and satisfactorily precise alternative for recording 3D point data in form of colour coded dense point cloud representing the model geometry especially the river bed levels in the model. The accuracy of 3D point cloud generated with SfM technique were also assessed by comparing with data obtained from manual measurement using conventional surveying technique in the models and the results were found to be very promising.
Legal cynicism, but not depression, mediates the link between adverse environmental factors and youth’s political violence support

ABSTRACT The present work tests mediators of the link between adverse environmental factors and political violence support. Specifically, we investigated if depression and legal cynicism can mediate the association between lack of family cohesion, parental violence, and discrimination on one side and political violence support on the other side. Hypotheses were tested on a large and ethnically diverse dataset of German ninth graders, employing multi-group structural equation modeling. For both genders, we find that lack of family cohesion and parental violence were directly and/or indirectly related to political violence support. While legal cynicism mediated the link between lack of family cohesion and parental violence and political violence support, we found no moderating effect of depression in any of the tested models. These findings indicate that adolescents from dysfunctional families and with cynical attitudes towards legal norms may be at risk to endorse political violence. Prevention efforts that enhance family functioning, social-cognitive abilities, and the internalization of legal norms may deter youth from supporting political violence.
Global Microphysical Sensitivity of Superparameterized Precipitation Extremes

A recent study found statistically significant differences in extreme precipitation distributions over the contiguous United States (CONUS) when changing the microphysics scheme in a superparameterized global climate model. Here, we repeat the analysis globally and similarly find that differences are widespread when varying the number of predicted moments in the microphysics parameterization, but not when comparing variants of the double‐moment scheme. However, contrary to the previous study in which differences largely disappeared over CONUS when 5‐day simulations were conducted, we found that the signal in these shorter integrations remains within the tropics, implying a direct local effect of microphysics on precipitation extremes in these regions. The effect on precipitation is traced back to changes in vertical velocity profiles changes that are then amplified in the climatological simulations compared to the 5‐day ones. Finally, the superparameterized extremes, regardless of the microphysics scheme, are shown to be larger than those from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project One‐Degree Daily data set and generally smaller than those from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42 data set.
Fine scale mapping of fractional tree canopy cover to support river basin management

Management of water, regionally, nationally and globally will continue to be a priority and complex undertaking. In riverine systems, biotic components like flora and fauna play critical roles in filtering water so it is available for human use and consumption. Preservation of ecosystems and associated ecosystem functions is therefore vital. In highly regulated large river basins, natural ecosystems are often supported through provision of environmental flows. Flow delivery, however, should be underpinned by rigorous monitoring to identify and prioritise biotic water requirements. Currently, large‐scale monitoring solutions are scaled from remote sensing data via measurement of field evapotranspiration for woody tree vegetation species. However, as there is generally a mismatch between field data collection area and remote sensing pixel size, new methods are required to proportion tree evapotranspiration based on tree fractional canopy area per pixel. We present a novel method to derive tree fractional canopy cover (FTCC) at 20 m resolution in semi‐arid and arid floodplain areas. The method employs LiDAR as a canopy area field measurement proxy (10 m resolution). We used Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2 (radar and multispectral imagery) in a Random Forest analysis, undertaken to develop a predictive FTCC model trained using LiDAR for two regions in the Murray–Darling Basin. A predictor model combining the results of both regions was able to explain between 71%–85% of FTCC variation when compared to LiDAR FTCC when output in 10% increments. Development of this method underpins the advancement of woody vegetation monitoring to inform environmental flow management in the Murray–Darling Basin. The method and fine scale outputs will also be of value to other catchment management concerns such as altered catchment water yields related to bushfires and as such has application to water management worldwide.
Locked Down Together: Determinants of Verbal Partner Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global spread of the coronavirus has drastically impacted people’s lives. Due to governmental lockdown measures, most people’s work and social life was suddenly confined to their own home. For partners who lived together, this could put serious strain on their relationship, which could result in conflicts and violence. In the present study, we aimed to identify which groups of people particularly experienced verbal partner violence during the pandemic lockdown, and how stress regarding the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in the occurrence of partner conflicts. Through an online survey, which was distributed via online (social) media channels, we gathered data from 2889 people in Flanders, of which 1491 people lived together with their partner during the lockdown. We found that partner violence during the lockdown particularly occurred among women, younger age groups; students; people whose partner was long-term unemployed or was (temporarily) unemployed due to the pandemic; parents of children under the age of 18; people without the ability to seclude themselves from other members of the household; and people with less personal contacts. Additionally, higher levels of stress about the COVID-19 itself and lower levels of stress about potential coronavirus infection were associated with more partner violence during the lockdown. These findings provide important insights for policy makers and health professionals to tailor partner violence prevention and intervention campaigns during the pandemic to specific groups.
Application of Virtual Environments for Biophilic Design: A Critical Review

Biophilic design as a new design approach promotes the integration of natural elements into the built environment, leading to a significant impact on human health, well-being, and productivity. On the other hand, scholars have explored Virtual Environment (VE) to create virtual nature and provide a complex experience of exposure to natural elements virtually. However, there is a lack of understanding about such studies in general, which use VE as a reliable tool to support biophilic design. Thus, the authors conducted a literature review on the applications, capabilities, and limitations of VE for biophilic design. The literature review shows that VE is capable of supporting critical features of biophilic design studies such as representing combinations of biophilic patterns, providing multimodal sensory inputs, simulating stress induction tasks, supporting required exposure time to observe biophilic patterns, and measuring human’s biological responses to natural environment. However, factors affecting user’s experience of a virtual biophilic environment exist, such as VE experience dimensions, user-related factors, cybersickness, navigational issues, and possible limitations of VE sensory input. Overall, biophilic design studies in VEs are still limited. Nevertheless, there are many opportunities for further research in this field.
Soil chemical and biological characteristics influence mineralization processes in different stands of a tropical wetland

In the Caribbean, Pterocarpus officinalis swamp forest, a coastal freshwater wetland, has been locally transformed by human activities into Colocasia esculenta monoculture (under the swamp forest) or pasture (where deforestation has occurred). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of three land uses of this tropical wetland (swamp forest, C. esculenta monoculture and pasture) on soil abiotic and biological features. We hypothesized that increasing the level of ecosystem alteration by agricultural intensification would negatively impact soil chemical characteristics, soil fauna diversity and carbon mineralization. As expected, land use significantly affected soil characteristics and changes followed the increasing intensity of land use. The ‘undisturbed system’, that is swamp forest, was characterized by a large soil organic matter content, a high level of soil moisture, a small phosphorus content and a slightly lower pH. These characteristics were correlated with a small faunal abundance and diversity and slow carbon (C) mineralization. The ‘low disturbance system’, that is C. esculenta monoculture, was the closest to swamp forest characteristics and changes between the both systems principally concerned a very slight decrease in organic matter content and very small increase in C mineralization and Coleoptera diversity. By contrast, all parameters (soil chemical characteristics, C mineralization and faunal abundance and diversity) were impacted in the most intensive land‐use, pasture. Our study confirmed that agricultural practices have an influence on soil fauna and C mineralization processes in wetlands. Moreover, our study suggested that a C. esculenta traditional agroecosystem under swamp forest cover could be considered as an ‘eco‐friendly’ agricultural practice.