Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robustness of partial least-squares method for estimating latent variable quality structures

Latent variable structural models and the partial least-squares (PLS) estimation procedure have found increased interest since being used in the context of customer satisfaction measurement. The well-known property that the estimates of the inner structure model are inconsistent implies biased estimates for finite sample sizes. A simplified version of the structural model that is used for the Swedish Customer Satisfaction Index (SCSI) system has been used to generate simulated data and to study the PLS algorithm in the presence of three inadequacies: (i) skew instead of symmetric distributions for manifest variables; (ii) multi-collinearity within blocks of manifest and between latent variables; and (iii) misspecification of the structural model (omission of regressors). The simulation results show that the PLS method is quite robust against these inadequacies. The bias that is caused by the inconsistency of PLS estimates is substantially increased only for extremely skewed distributions and for the erroneous omission of a highly relevant latent regressor variable. The estimated scores of the latent variables are always in very good agreement with the true values and seem to be unaffected by the inadequacies under investigation.
On the horns of a dilemma: Experts as communicators for property‐level flood risk adaptation measures

This paper investigates the role of flood risk experts in supporting homeowners to implement property‐level flood risk adaption (PLFRA). Homeowners can reduce their flood risks by implementing PLFRA. However, oftentimes they need advice on what sort of and how to implement PLFRA. This means that tailored experts advice is necessary to inform homeowners on such measures. But experience shows that mere information is often insufficient to motivate homeowners to realise measures. This contribution explores the reasons for the ineffectiveness of expert advice by investigating how expert advice responds to homeowners' rationalities. Based on a case study from Flanders, Belgium, this paper reveals how the relation between experts and homeowners differs related to different rationalities of homeowners. The paper uses Cultural Theory to discuss strategies on how experts, providing advice on property‐level risk adaption, could move beyond engineering skills by also using risk communication skills in order to involve homeowners in flood risk governance.
On the Relationship between Value- and Threat-Driven Attentional Capture and Approach-Avoidance Biases

Reward learning and aversive conditioning have consequences for attentional selection, such that stimuli that come to signal reward and threat bias attention regardless of their valence. Appetitive and aversive stimuli have distinctive influences on response selection, such that they activate an approach and an avoidance response, respectively. However, whether the involuntary influence of reward- and threat-history-laden stimuli extends to the manner in which a response is directed remains unclear. Using a feedback-joystick task and a manikin task, which are common paradigms for examining valence-action bias, we demonstrate that reward- and threat-signalling stimuli do not modulate response selection. Stimuli that came to signal reward and threat via training biased attention and invigorated action in general, but they did not facilitate an approach and avoidance response, respectively. We conclude that attention can be biased towards a stimulus as a function of its prior association with reward or aversive outcomes without necessarily influencing approach vs. avoidance tendencies, such that the mechanisms underlying the involuntary control of attention and behaviour evoked by valent stimuli can be decoupled.
An Improved Multiplicative Updating Algorithm for Nonnegative Independent Component Analysis

This paper addresses nonnegative independent component analysis (NICA), with the aim to realize the blind separation of nonnegative well‐grounded independent source signals, which arises in many practical applications but is hardly ever explored. Recently, Bertrand and Moonen presented a multiplicative NICA (M‐NICA) algorithm using multiplicative update and subspace projection. Based on the principle of the mutual correlation minimization, we propose another novel cost function to evaluate the diagonalization level of the correlation matrix, and apply the multiplicative exponentiated gradient (EG) descent update to it to maintain nonnegativity. An efficient approach referred to as the EG‐NICA algorithm is derived and its validity is confirmed by numerous simulations conducted on different types of source signals. Results show that the separation performance of the proposed EG‐NICA algorithm is superior to that of the previous M‐NICA algorithm, with a better unmixing accuracy. In addition, its convergence speed is adjustable by an appropriate user‐defined learning rate.
Explore urban interactions based on floating car data – a case study of Chengdu, China

ABSTRACT Transport data are important for understanding human mobility and urban interactions within a city. As China’s transportation infrastructure continues to grow, more research is needed to analyse the spatial patterns of travel flows and to understand how these patterns change over time. With the development of online car-hailing and ride sharing services, floating car data have become a new resource to facilitate the analysis of human mobility patterns and the interactions of urban mobility within a city. The detection of urban communities based on urban networks is a helpful way to represent urban interactions. However, understanding community changes using online car-hailing data remains an underexplored topic. To this end, this study applies a community detection method to explore community changes over time based on the newly available floating car data (DiDi Chuxing (‘DiDi’)) in Chengdu, China. We applied undirected graphs to examine the spatial distribution of DiDi usage and the spatial patterns of travel distance. In addition, we explored the spatial-temporal variations of the communities at the taxi zone level using Blondel’s iterative algorithm, a modularity optimization approach. Results suggest that: 1) taxi zones on the south and west sides of Chengdu have more average daily trips compared to those in other areas; 2) residential taxi zones in the northeast area have a long median travel distance, indicating people living in those areas travel longer distances; and 3) the detected community structures change at different times. These findings provide valuable information for urban planning and location-based services in Chengdu.
High-Density and Highly Surface Selective Adsorption of Protein–Nanoparticle Complexes by Controlling Electrostatic Interaction

High-density cage-shaped proteins with inorganic cores were selectively adsorbed as a monolayer onto a 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTES) layer on a Si substrate. The electrostatic interaction between the protein and substrate surface was studied and it was proven that protein adsorption density depends on the quantitative balance of surface charge on the substrate and protein. The combination of a highly positive APTES layer and moderately negative ferritin, Fer-4, achieved an adsorption density of 7.6×1011 cm-2 and the combination of the APTES layer and Listeria ferritin (Lis-fer) reached an adsorption density of 1.3×1012 cm-2. The adsorption process including the reduced charge of Lis-fer due to denaturation further enhanced the adsorption density up to 1.5×1012 cm-2, whereas no Lis-fer was adsorbed onto the SiO2 surface under the same conditions. This new technique makes it possible to produce a nanodot monolayer with a density higher than 1×1012 cm-2, which can be applied to floating nanodot gate memories.
Toward a Theory of Marginalized Stakeholder-Centric Entrepreneurship

The neglect of marginalized stakeholders is a colossal problem in both stakeholder and entrepreneurship streams of literature. To address this problem, we offer a theory of marginalized stakeholder-centric entrepreneurship. We conceptualize how firms can utilize marginalized stakeholder input actualization through which firms should process a variety of ideas, resources, and interactions with marginalized stakeholders and then filter, internalize, and, finally, realize important elements that improve a variety of related socioeconomic, ethical, racial, contextual, political, and identity issues. This input actualization process enables firms to innovate with marginalized stakeholders and develop marginalized stakeholder capabilities. To this end, firms fulfill both their moral and entrepreneurial claims to marginalized stakeholders.
Engineering design strategies for force augmentation exoskeletons: A general review

In the industrial and military sector, work activities are required transporting or supporting heavy loads manually, affecting this the human spinal column due to the weight of the loads or the repetition of this labor. In this regard, the use of force-enhancing exoskeletons is a potential solution to this issue. Therefore, this article summarizes the state of the art in relevant contributions to structural design, control systems, actuators, and performance metrics to evaluate the proper functioning of exoskeletons used for load support and transfer. This is essential to address current and new open problems in these applications, and this includes reducing the metabolic cost and enhancing the loading force in exoskeletons, in which challenges such as structural design and kinetic interactions between the human and the robot are presented. The systematic review of the strategies found in the literature helps addressing these challenges in an orderly way. The proposal of some alternative solutions could help to solving some of the challenges mentioned above, as well as further research to improve the design of these devices is necessary.
Partitioning Signed Two-Mode Networks

Structural balance theory forms the foundation for a generalized blockmodel method useful for delineating the structure of signed social one-mode networks for social actors (for example, people or nations). Heider's unit formation relation was dropped. We re-examine structural balance by formulating Heider's unit formation relations as signed two-mode data. Just as generalized blockmodeling has been extended to analyze two-mode unsigned data, we extend it to analyze signed two-mode network data and provide a formalization of the extension. The blockmodel structure for signed two-mode networks has positive and negative blocks, defined in terms of different partitions of rows and columns. These signed blocks can be located anywhere in the block model. We provide a motivating example and then use the new blockmodel type to delineate the voting patterns of the Supreme Court justices for all of their nonunanimous decisions for the 2006–07 term. Interpretations are presented together with a statement of further problems meriting attention for partitioning signed two-mode data.
Optimizing the Aging Brain: The BEAD Study on the Ethics of Dementia Prevention

Dementia has lately undergone a profound reconceptualization. Long conceived of as an unpreventable process of mental deterioration, current evidence shows that it can be prevented in at least one in three cases intervening on a specified set of factors. Issues of justice and equity loom large on the implementation of dementia prevention, from a global health perspective. Our project thus embraces emerging evidence about dementia risk factors and their uneven distribution nationally and globally by specifically focusing on the situated aspects of dementia prevention. The aim of the BEAD study (Optimizing the Aging Brain? Situating Ethical Aspects in Dementia Prevention) is to dissect the ethical and clinical assumptions of this novel understanding of dementia, and to analyze how such new discourse on dementia prevention plays out in three countries: Canada, Germany and Switzerland. This study adopts a multi-perspective, comparative, qualitative approach, combining stakeholder interviews with different kinds of focused ethnographies, elaborating on conceptual, ethical, and social aspects of what we would like to call the “new dementia”. By situating the paradigmatic shifts in Alzheimer’s and dementia research within current aging cultures and contemporary social policies, we aim to initiate a debate about the often implicit unresolved social, ethical, and political implications and preconditions of the medical understanding and handling of cognitive disorders.
Impingement of an axisymmetric jet on unheated and heated flat plates

The aerodynamic and thermal aspects of the wall jet flow, formed after angled impingement of an axisymmetric jet, have been studied with emphasis on the large-scale transport of the passive scalar by the spatially coherent structures. Time-averaged and instantaneous structures of the turbulent flow were examined by visualization and local measurements of a jet arrangement with an impingement angle between the jet axis and the surface normal of 20°, a nozzle-to-plate distance to nozzle exit diameter ratio of 22, and a nozzle exit Reynolds number of 1.3 × 104. The results show that the oblique impingement introduced vertical velocities so that boundary-layer approximations were inapplicable and led to the distribution of the time-averaged properties of the velocity and temperature field with strong azimuthal dependence, which increased gradually with angle of impingement to 40° where a sudden change of the orientation of the contours of surface pressure and temperature took place. It also led to instantaneous, spatially coherent structures which were most pronounced at an angle of 20°. These structures improved the large-scale transport of the passive scalar but, owing to the extreme regularity of their path, also led to an inactive zone near the vortex centre. The inner region of the decelerating wall jet exhibited a momentum equilibrium layer extending to the point of radial velocity maximum and the intercept of the linear region of the semilogarithmic wall law varied in the local streamwise direction as for turbulent flows over rough walls with adverse pressure gradient. The thermal equilibrium layer had an invariant functional form but extended far beyond the point of maximum velocity.
Enzyme-Catalyzed Polymerization of Kraft Lignin from Eucalyptus globulus: Comparison of Bacterial and Fungal Laccases Efficacy

Kraft lignin, a side-stream from the pulp and paper industry, can be modified by laccases for the synthesis of high added-value products. This work aims to study different laccase sources, including a bacterial laccase from Streptomyces ipomoeae (SiLA) and a fungal laccase from Myceliophthora thermophila (MtL), for kraft lignin polymerization. To study the influence of some variables in these processes, a central composite design (CCD) with two continuous variables (enzyme concentration and reaction time) and three levels for each variable was used. The prediction of the behavior of the output variables (phenolic content and molecular weight of lignins) were modelled by means of response surface methodology (RSM). Moreover, characterization of lignins was performed by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and different nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques. In addition, antioxidant activity was also analyzed. Results showed that lignin polymerization (referring to polymerization as lower phenolic content and higher molecular weight) occurred by the action of both laccases. The enzyme concentration was the most influential variable in the lignin polymerization reaction within the range studied for SiLA laccase, while the most influential variable for MtL laccase was the reaction time. FTIR and NMR characterization analysis corroborated lignin polymerization results obtained from the RSM.
Analysis of longitudinal and torsional vibration of mining scraper conveyor under the over bending section working condition

Considering that the scraper will produce longitudinal and torsional pendulum vibration when passing through the bending section, and have a great influence on the motion characteristics of the scraper conveyor, this paper studies the longitudinal and torsional pendulum coupling vibration characteristics of the scraper conveyor under the working condition of over-bending section for the first time. Firstly, the simplified model of torsional pendulum vibration of scraper chain system is established based on Voigt model and point-by-point tension method. Then, the change law of scraper group vibration and chain tension under the condition of scraper bending is studied. Thirdly, through the influence area and attenuation characteristics of torsional pendulum vibration, the thumbnail model of torsional pendulum vibration is constructed. Finally, the longitudinal and torsional pendulum coupling vibration dynamic model of the scraper chain system is constructed based on the torsional pendulum vibration abbreviation model, and the overall longitudinal and torsional pendulum vibration characteristics of the scraper conveyor are studied when the scraper is over the bending section. The conclusion of this paper provides a theoretical basis for better understanding the operation characteristics of scraper conveyor in coal mine.
From National Memory to Self-Referential Symbol: The Rebirth of the Phoenix Metaphors among Chinese Immigrant Women

This article focuses on the psychocultural perceptions and social interactions among a sample of 58 Chinese immigrant women in the Maricopa County, the metro area of the city of Phoenix, Arizona, and the manner in which they are able to negotiate multiple identity markers that in part influence and define their capacity to achieve and maintain self-referential growth. The sample of Chinese women living in the Phoenix area not only apply the metaphor of the phoenix to themselves, but also reference this mythical bird in their social media ID, clubs names, and themed events, and include it in oral traditions passed on to children. In comparison, they reject, negotiate, or resist the stigma and stereotypes attached to the “dragon” symbol which often convey qualities of overpowering and irrational oppression. Instead, they associate themselves with the heuristic of the phoenix as a tool for self-empowerment, virtue, well-being, and ethnic- self-representation. These spontaneous reconstructions of ethnic symbols and metaphors based on traditional cultural consensus allowed immigrants to develop cultural self-confidence because they believed that they had eliminated the possibility of discrimination, and eventually contribute to feasible solutions of silent symbolic violence.
A Probabilistic Linguistic Three-Way Decision Method With Regret Theory via Fuzzy c-Means Clustering Algorithm

Aiming at multiattribute decision-making (MADM) problems with probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs), and considering the effective rationality of a decision-maker (DM) in complex decision environments, this article proposes a probabilistic linguistic three-way decision (TWD) method based on the regret theory (RT), namely, PL-TWDR. First, a probabilistic linguistic attribute weight determination method is developed that considers probabilistic linguistic information entropies and the weighted total deviation of all objects from the negative ideal solution (NIS). Then, a new group satisfaction index is designed to replace the utility function in RT, which overcomes the limitation of the RT calculation in PLTSs. Second, the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm is extended to PLTSs for obtaining equivalent objects under different clusters and calculate conditional probabilities in corresponding TWD models, which makes up for the shortage of the PLTS evaluation matrix when dividing equivalence classes. Third, RT is introduced into PLTSs to rank objects according to utility perception values. At the same time, a new TWD model constructed by average utility perception values is used to realize object domains in probabilistic linguistic environments. Finally, the proposed method is applied to realistic cases, and the effectiveness and superiority of the PL-TWDR method are verified via comparative analysis and sensitivity analysis in terms of other nine popular decision-making methods.
Pediatric Philadelphia-Negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in the Era of WHO Classification: A Systematic Review

Background: Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) are most prevalent in the older population (median age at the diagnosis is above 60 years) and rarely diagnosed in pediatrics. Thus, our knowledge about the clinical presentation, mutational status, and complications of MPNs in pediatrics is limited. Methods: The literature in English (PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar) was searched for studies, reviews, case series, and case reports of patients with Philadelphia-negative MPNs (including essential thrombocythemia, polycythemia vera, primary myelofibrosis, and profibrotic myelofibrosis) in the pediatrics age group (less than 18 years). Only studies that fulfilled WHO 2008 or 2016 criteria for MPNs were included. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics, vascular and long-term complications, types of driver mutations, and treatment approaches in pediatric patients with MPNs. Results: We reviewed 33 articles of available published literature from 2008 to 2022 and collected data from a total of 196 patients of the pediatric population. Among the cohort of patients, 139 had essential thrombocythemia (ET), 20 had polycythemia vera (PV), and 37 had primary myelofibrosis (PMF). The median age at the time of diagnosis for each disease varied, with 8.8 years for ET, 10 years for PV, and 3.6 years for MF. There was a slight difference in gender prevalence between both gender groups and all three diseases. The presenting symptoms were not mentioned in more than 50% of studies. We found that JAK2 was the most prevalent among all mutations. Both bleeding and thrombosis were present equally in ET, with 9% of cases complicated by bleeding and 9% complicated by thrombosis. Hemorrhagic events did not occur in patients with PV; thrombosis in children with MF was also not found. The progression into AML occurred in two patients with PV and one with ET. Conclusion: Given the rarity of MPNs in pediatrics and their different characteristics compared with adults, we believe there is a need for unique diagnostic criteria to match the different molecular statuses in pediatrics. Based on our review, the incidence of MPN complications in pediatrics, including thrombotic events, hemorrhage, and leukemic transformation, differs from that in adults.