Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Urban Park Quality, Environmental Perception, and Leisure Activity on Well-Being among the Older Population

Previous studies have shown that natural environments and leisure activities can reduce depression and increase well-being. Urban parks are important for the psychological well-being of middle-aged and older adults. However, it remains unknown whether the relationship between environmental perceptions, leisure activity, and well-being is affected by the quality of park environments. This study uses a cross-level framework to examine the effects of urban park quality on middle-aged and older adults’ environmental perceptions, leisure activity, and well-being. The Neighborhood Green Space Tool was used to assess the environmental quality of 19 parks, and 380 individuals aged 55 years and older were interviewed in each park using an on-site questionnaire. The results reveal that the associations between environmental perception and well-being were moderated by the quality of park accessibility, amenities, and incivilities; the effect of environmental perception on depression was moderated by the quality of incivilities in parks; and the effect of frequency of leisure activities on depression was moderated by the quality of park accessibility.
Comparison of Swallow Float, Ocean Bottom Seismometer, Sonobuoy Data in the VLF (Very Low Frequency) Band

Abstract : VLF data collected concurrently by three sets of instruments--the MPL's freely drifting Swallow floats, an array of OBSs deployed by SIO, and sonobuoys from the NADC are compared. The data were collected in April and May, 1987, near the site of DSDP hole 469, 32.5 deg N, 120.5 W deg. To make the data comparisons quantitative, the OBS and sonobuoy data were resampled to a sampling frequency of 50 Hz and the time bases for the 3 sets of instruments were aligned using coherent arrivals. Spectra, spectral differences, and coherence squared estimates were calculated and plotted. Results indicate that the Swallow float geophone data are consistent i.e., the spectra from different instruments of the same type do not differ within the confidence limits of the spectral estimates as are most of the OBS vertical-axis geophone data. The inter-Swallow-float coherences are significantly different from zero at frequencies thought to be broadcast by the research vessels in the experiment. The inter-vertical -axis- OBS coherences are also significantly different from zero at frequencies below 6 Hz as well as at the ship frequencies. The high coherences below 6 Hz are probably due to the close spacing of the OBSs in the experiment. On the other hand, the OBS horizontal-axis geophone data from different instruments can vary over several tens of decibels in spectral level. The OBS hydrophone time series contain 0.5-second spikes of various amplitudes, and the sonobuoy data appear to suffer from contamination below 10 Hz.
Promotion of Transaction-Based Cause-Related Marketing: How Should the Source and the Impact of the Partnership Be Presented

Abstract This study used a 2 (promoting partner: for-profit vs. nonprofit) by 2 (impact: identifiable vs. statistical) between-subjects design collecting data online through Amazon Mechanical Turk from 302 participants. Attitudes toward the promoting partner were more favorable was when the promoted partner was the nonprofit (vs. for-profit). Further, attitude fully mediated the relationship between promoting partner frame and purchase intention. Our findings provide useful practical insight in that promoting the partnership through the nonprofit partner may yield better results than promoting it through the for-profit partner for transaction-based CRM activities.
Influence of Ecklonia maxima Extracts on Growth, Yield, and Postharvest Quality of Hydroponic Leaf Lettuce

Ecklonia maxima is a brown algae seaweed largely harvested over the last years and used to produce alginate, animal feed, fertilizers, and plant biostimulants. Their extracts are commercially available in various forms and have been applied to many crops for their growth-promoting effects which may vary according to the treated species and doses applied. The aim of the study was to characterize the effect of adding an Ecklonia maxima commercial extract (Basfoliar Kelp; 0, 1, 2, and 4 mL L−1) to the nutrient solution of a hydroponic floating system on growth, yield, and quality of leaf lettuce at harvest and during cold storage (21 days at 4 °C). The supplementation of the E. maxima extract through the mineral nutrient solutions, especially between 2 and 4 mL L−1, enhanced plant growth and improved the yield and many morphological and physiological traits (biomass accumulation, leaf expansion, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, nitrogen use efficiency, etc.). Preharvest treatments with E. maxima extract were effective in delaying leaf senescence and extending the shelf-life of fresh-cut leaf lettuce. The delay in leaf decay of treated samples allowed to retain an overall quality over the threshold of marketability for up to 21 d of cold storage, especially using 2 mL L−1 of extract.
Red Blood Cells as Redox Modulators in Hemolytic Anemia

The oxidative status of cells, representing the balance between prooxidants and antioxidants, is involved in their normal physiological functioning, such as signal transduction, proliferation, and differentiation. When the prooxidant activity overrides the antioxidative capacity oxidative stress occurs. Chronic oxidative stress causes cytotoxicity and organ failure. As such, it is believed to play a role in various pathologies, including the hemolytic anemias. In this review, we suggest that red blood cells (RBC), in addition to their primary role as oxygen carriers, function as redox modulators. In the RBC, various systems afford it with antioxidative capacity that, in addition to balancing its own redox state, can provide antioxidative protection to the cellular and intracellular milieus throughout the body. Their vast number, mobility, occurrence throughout the body, and renewability make them good candidates for this function. A decrease in their number (anemia) or function due to oxidative stress may exacerbate the symptoms of many diseases by failing to neutralize oxidative stress. However, correcting anemia, e.g., by repeated RBC transfusions or iron supplementation, may increase the iron load, which, in turn, causes oxidative stress. This situation suggests that the status of both iron and redox should be monitored during treatment, using RBC as bioindicators.
EFFECT OF CHLORIDE AND SULFATE CONTAMINATION IN SOILS ON CORROSION OF STEEL AND CONCRETE

The durability performance of plain and blended cements in sabkha soils (soils contaiminated with high concentrations of chloride and sulfate salts) was investigated. Specimens placed in the sabkha soil were obtained at periodic intervals and evaluated by conducting strength loss measurements, corrosion potentials monitoring, and corrosion rate measurements at regular intervals. Results indicate that the strength reduction after 540 days of exposure to sabkha soils was greater in silica fume cement mortar specimens compared with plain and other blended cements. Reinforcement corrosion was, however, much lower in silica fume cement concrete than in plain, fly ash, and blast furnace slag cements. This indicates that use of silica fume cement in structural components placed in sabkha soils will be beneficial from the viewpoint of reinforcement corrosion. Additional protective measures, such as application of a water-resistant epoxy-based coating, will have to be adopted to minimize deterioration related to sulfate salts.
Machine-mounted scrubber helps ventilate face

The authors describe work carried out under contract for US Bureau of Mines on a machine-mounted scrubber system for ventilating the face during an extended advance. Underground tests showed that a suitable scrubber system can adequately ventilate the face at brattice setbacks up to 15m. Face methane levels were effectively controlled at large setbacks, but respirable dust levels increased by as much as 33% at the operator's cab at setbacks greater than 7.5m.
Computational Study of the Dynamics of the Taylor Bubble

We perform high-resolution numerical simulations of three-dimensional dynamics of an elongated bubble in a microchannel at moderate Reynolds numbers up to 1800. For this purpose, we use the coupled Brinkman penalization and volume of fluid methods implemented in the open-source framework Basilisk. The new results are validated with available experimental data and compared with previous numerical and theoretical predictions. We extend existing results to regimes with significant inertia, which are characterized by intense deformations of the bubble, including cases with azimuthal symmetry breaking. Various dynamical features are analyzed in terms of their spatiotemporal characteristics, such as frequencies and wavelengths of the bubble surface undulations and vortical structures in the flow.
Gender and Organizational Conflict Management: The Mediating Role of Personality

Many authors examined the interplay between gender and conflict management preferences, but those findings were often mixed and inconsistent. In the current paper we tried to explain those inconsistencies by investigating the mediating role of personality for the relationship of gender and conflict management. Rahim's inventory was used for identifying five conflict management styles, and Big Five Model theory was a base for assessing participants' personality traits. Data were collected from a sample of 1,055 working Poles (52.7% women), in an online survey. Based on the structural equation modeling we detected multiple indirect mediating paths of gender on conflict management via personality traits, while no direct effect of gender was observed. Despite some limitations, the study sheds light on the actual role of gender in conflict behavior and the importance of personality traits in the conflict management, both from a theoretical and practical perspective.
On the need of bias adjustment for more plausible climate change projections of extreme heat

The assessment of climate change impacts in regions with complex orography and land‐sea interfaces poses a challenge related to shortcomings of global climate models. Furthermore, climate indices based on absolute thresholds are especially sensitive to systematic model biases. Here we assess the effect of bias adjustment (BA) on the projected changes in temperature extremes focusing on the number of annual days with maximum temperature above 35°C. To this aim, we use three BA methods of increasing complexity (from simple scaling to empirical quantile mapping) and present a global analysis of raw and BA CMIP5 projections under different global warming levels. The main conclusions are (1) BA amplifies the magnitude of the climate change signal (in some regions by a factor 2 or more) achieving a more plausible representation of future heat threshold‐based indices; (2) simple BA methods provide similar results to more complex ones, thus supporting the use of simple and parsimonious BA methods in these studies.
PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE AND ASPHALT CONCRETE MIX DESIGN (WITH DISCUSSION)

Periodically, it is worth the time to assess current mix design procedures. This paper provides two examples where mix design procedures are assessed. The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience obtained on two projects that used the Marshall test procedure together with additional testing, including stabilometer and creep tests, to modify the resulting mixture designs. The paper also provides the efficacy of the creep tests as an additional design test for asphalt mix design, particularly for pavements subjected to heavy loading conditions in hot environments.
The Men and Women Who Purchase Sex in the United States: Understanding Motives, Practices, and Preferences

Abstract Understanding the motives, behaviors, demographic characteristics, and deterrence strategies of those involved in purchasing commercial sex have focused on samples of men. Through an online survey of men (n = 381) and women who purchase sex (n = 143) in the United States, this study provides an exploratory examination on the differences of purchasing by gender. While men reported purchasing sexual services at a higher rate, women who purchased were less likely to be in a relationship. No differences in the deterrence of purchasing were found by gender, yet current deterrence strategies were not found to be effective among the sample.
Binaural Reproduction Based on Bilateral Ambisonics

Binaural reproduction of high-quality spatial sound has gained considerable interest with the recent technology developments in virtual and augmented reality. The reproduction of binaural signals in the Spherical-Harmonics (SH) domain using Ambisonics is now a well-established methodology, with flexible binaural processing realized using SH representations of the sound-field and the Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF). However, in most practical cases, the binaural reproduction is order-limited, which introduces truncation errors that have a detrimental effect on the perception of the reproduced signals, mainly due to the truncation of the HRTF. Recently, it has been shown that manipulating the HRTF phase component, by ear-alignment, significantly reduces its effective SH order while preserving its phase information, which may be beneficial for alleviating the above detrimental effect. Incorporating the ear-aligned HRTF into the binaural reproduction process has been suggested by using Bilateral Ambisonics, which is an Ambisonics representation of the sound-field formulated at the two ears. While this method imposes challenges on acquiring the sound-field, and specifically, on applying head-rotations, it leads to a significant reduction in errors caused by the limited-order reproduction, which yields a substantial improvement in the perceived binaural reproduction quality even with first order SH.
Tourism Perspectives in National Parks—A Hungarian Case Study from the Aspects of Rural Development

Nature-based tourism has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted the tourism sector and triggered contradictory processes, even in protected areas. This phenomenon opens up new opportunities for nature-based tourism from the perspective of rural development. In this study, we assess the relations between tourism and nature conservation and examine the characteristics of practical cooperation in three Hungarian national parks. Based on in-depth interviews (n = 76), document review, and analysis of tourism-related data, our research proves that nature-based tourism could play an essential role in rural development, but this is far from being fulfilled. None of the sectors have been able to impact the comprehensive development of the rural areas concerned. We conclude that sectoral partnership is inadequate, and there is no effective policy coordination. There is a lack of multiday tourism programs, and the currently available tourism infrastructure is insufficient. Initiatives such as the national park product trademark exist but are not well managed, so they do not have a meaningful impact. The results point out that cross-sector collaboration must be strengthened after the epidemic to provide a basis for policy coordination and joint planning.
The Garbage Enzyme with Chinese Hoenylocust Fruits Showed Better Properties and Application than When Using the Garbage Enzyme Alone

Garbage enzyme (GE) is a vinegar or alcohol product derived from fermenting fresh kitchen waste, such as vegetable and fruit residues (peels, cuttings and bits), sugar (brown sugar, jaggery or molasses sugar) and water. Chinese honeylocust fruits (Gleditsia sinensis) have been used in China for at least 2000 years as a detergent. The aim of the study was to investigate the properties and application of Chinese honeylocust garbage enzyme (CHGE), which is produced when equal amounts of Chinese honeylocust fruits and fresh wastes are mixed. The results showed that CHGE had lesser microbial communities and lower surface tension than GE. CHGE also had higher viscosity, foam stability and emulsion stability than GE. Compared with GE, CHGE induced higher enzymatic amylase, cellulase, lipase and protease activities. CHGE had stronger detergency than GE and a 100× dilution of CHGE could significantly remove pesticide residues after a 30 min soaking treatment. The study showed that as a biological detergent, CHGE is safer and more environmentally friendly than GE and has remarkable washing and cleaning power. The preparation method of the detergent is simple: it can be prepared at home using fruit and vegetable waste, which is beneficial to the secondary utilization of waste and the reduction of pollution to the environment and damage to human health.
Prediction of Second Melting Temperatures Already Observed in Pure Elements by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

A second melting temperature occurs at a temperature Tn+ higher than Tm in glass-forming melts after heating them from their glassy state. The melting entropy is reduced or increased depending on the thermal history and on the presence of antibonds or bonds up to Tn+. Recent MD simulations show full melting at Tn+ = 1.119Tm for Zr, 1.126Tm for Ag, 1.219Tm for Fe and 1.354Tm for Cu. The non-classical homogeneous nucleation model applied to liquid elements is based on the increase of the Lindemann coefficient with the heating rate. The glass transition at Tg and the nucleation temperatures TnG of glacial phases are successfully predicted below and above Tm. The glass transition temperature Tg increases with the heating rate up to Tn+. Melting and crystallization of glacial phases occur with entropy and enthalpy reductions. A universal law relating Tn+ and TnG around Tm shows that TnG cannot be higher than 1.293Tm for Tn+= 1.47Tm. The enthalpies and entropies of glacial phases have singular values, corresponding to the increase of percolation thresholds with Tg and TnG above the Scher and Zallen invariant at various heating and cooling rates. The G-phases are metastable up to Tn+ because the antibonds are broken by homogeneous nucleation of bonds.
Resting-State Functional Connectivity following Phonological Component Analysis: The Combined Action of Phonology and Visual Orthographic Cues

Anomia is the most frequent and pervasive symptom for people with aphasia (PWA). Phonological component analysis (PCA) is a therapy incorporating phonological cues to treat anomia. Investigations of neural correlates supporting improvements following PCA remain scarce. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) as a marker of therapy-induced neuroplasticity has been reported by our team. The present study explores the efficacy of PCA in French and associated therapy-induced neuroplasticity using whole-brain rsFC analysis. Ten PWA participated in a pre-/post-PCA fMRI study with cognitive linguistic assessments. PCA was delivered in French following the standard procedure. PCA led to significant improvement with trained and untrained items. PCA also led to changes in rsFC between distributed ROIs in the semantic network, visual network, and sub-cortical areas. Changes in rsFC can be interpreted within the frame of the visual and phonological nature of PCA. Behavioral and rsFC data changes associated with PCA in French highlight its efficacy and point to the importance of phonological and orthographic cues to consolidate the word-retrieval strategy, contributing to generalization to untrained words.
Control of an industrial rolling process using the theory of switched repetitive processes

Repetitive Processes Jacek Bochniak, Krzysztof Galkowski, Eric Rogers, Joerg Velten Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Telecommunications, University of Zielona Gora, Poland {jbochnia,kgalkows}@uz.zgora. pl School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, United Kingdom etar@ecs.soton. ac.uk Faculty of Electrical, Information and Media Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Germany {galkowsk,velten}@uni-wuppertal.de
POSITIVE COGNITIVE TRIAD AND COVID-19 FEARS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has produced both physical and mental health crisis at an unprecedented level forcing the global community to take actions to deal with the pandemic. Various mental health issues have cropped up in people since the spread of the highly contagious disease. The present empirical study examined the role of the positive cognitive triad in coping with mental health problems, especially the fears of the pandemic. Using а cross-sectional research design, data were collected from the 240 participants in a northern state in India at the time when the positive cases were increasing. Regression analysis showed significant variation explained by positive cognitive triad on the outcome variable, i.e. positive cognitive triad reduces the perception of fears of the COVID-19 disease. The study revealed that the positive cognitive triad might be used as one of the coping strategies with the fears and anxiety of the disease. Regression analysis further revealed that two dimensions of the positive cognitive triad i.e. positive cognition of the self and positive cognition of the future, had a significantly negative influence on the fears of the disease. Thus, people who have positive cognition of the self and the future are less likely to experience fear of the novel COVID-19 diseases.
A Semantic Segmentation Method for Early Forest Fire Smoke Based on Concentration Weighting

Forest fire smoke detection based on deep learning has been widely studied. Labeling the smoke image is a necessity when building datasets of target detection and semantic segmentation. The uncertainty in labeling the forest fire smoke pixels caused by the non-uniform diffusion of smoke particles will affect the recognition accuracy of the deep learning model. To overcome the labeling ambiguity, the weighted idea was proposed in this paper for the first time. First, the pixel-concentration relationship between the gray value and the concentration of forest fire smoke pixels in the image was established. Second, the loss function of the semantic segmentation method based on concentration weighting was built and improved; thus, the network could pay attention to the smoke pixels differently, an effort to better segment smoke by weighting the loss calculation of smoke pixels. Finally, based on the established forest fire smoke dataset, selection of the optimum weighted factors was made through experiments. mIoU based on the weighted method increased by 1.52% than the unweighted method. The weighted method cannot only be applied to the semantic segmentation and target detection of forest fire smoke, but also has a certain significance to other dispersive target recognition.