Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Identification and Effects of “Opinion Leader” under Different Information Release Strategies

This paper systematically analyzes the models and processes related to wordof- mouth spreading in social networks. This paper simulates the characteristics and rules of word-of-mouth spreading on social network platforms, adopts network evolution models as well as virus spreading models which can precisely reflect the process of word-of-mouth spreading. By computer simulation, the effect of several kinds of parameters in networks and in wordof- mouth spreading model is analyzed. What has been proved, through parameter analysis, is that the secondary “push” of the key node (opinion leader) in social networks has played a significant role in promoting word-of-mouth spreading. In practical applications, shopkeepers can act appropriately to the situation, which means they put in a second period of advertise appropriately after placing one advertisement at random in order to save costs and increase efficiency.
Modelling and Managing Learner Satisfaction: Use of Learner Feedback to Enhance Blended and Online Learning Experience

A key concern for most institutions and instructors is whether students are satisfied with their learning experience. However, relatively few studies have unpacked what the key drivers for learner satisfaction are in blended and online courses. Using logistical regression modelling, learner satisfaction data of 62,986 learners in 401 undergraduate blended and online modules was analyzed. The data included over 200 potential explanatory variables based on learner and module learning design characteristics. Findings indicate that learning design has a strong and significant impact on overall satisfaction for both new and continuing learners. Learners who are more satisfied with the quality of teaching materials, assessment strategies, and workload are more satisfied with the overall learning experience. Furthermore, long-term goals of learners (i.e., qualifications and relevance of modules with learners’ professional careers) are important predictors of learner satisfaction. Individual learner characteristics are mostly insignificant, indicating that despite a wide diversity of learners studying at the Open University, UK, the underlying learning experiences are similar. Future research should focus on how learning design changes can enhance the learning experiences of students.
Measuring the Quality of HTTP Video

HTTP video streaming is widely deployed to deliver stored media. But the HTTP video quality assessment method is uncertain. In this paper we propose an objective assessment based on Mamdani inference. First we introduce three application performance metrics of HTTP video, including the initial buffering time, mean rebuffering duration, rebuffering frequency. Then we give an experiment to change the network environment and test the HTTP video quality. Our ultimate goal is to characterize the correlation between the application performance metrics and the user QoE using Mamdani fuzzy inference. The experimental results show that the method accords closely with human subjective judgment, and improves the similarity.
In-situ crystal structure determination of seifertite SiO2 at 129 GPa: Studying a minor phase near Earth's core–mantle boundary

Abstract Seifertite SiO2 likely exists as a minor phase near the core–mantle boundary. By simulating the pressure and temperature conditions near the core–mantle boundary, seifertite was synthesized as a minor phase in a coarse-grained, polycrystalline sample coexisting with the (Mg,Fe)SiO3 post-perovskite (pPv) phase at 129 GPa and 2500 K. Here we report the first in situ single-crystal structure determination and refinement of seifertite at high pressure and after a temperature quench from laser heating. We improved the data coverage of a minor phase from a diamond-anvil cell (DAC) by merging single-crystal data of seifertite from six selected grains that had different orientations. Observed systematic absences of reflections from the six individual grains allowed only one space group: Pbcn. The refined results of seifertite are in good agreement with the predictions from previous first-principles calculations at high pressure. This approach provides a method for structure determination of a minor phase in a mineral assemblage synthesized under P-T conditions representative of the deep Earth.
A survey on depth based 3D image Modeling

— Depth based 3D image modeling is a biggest challenge that persists in the digital image processing depending on different depths. The method of recognizing in dynamic areas is an unanswered challenge facing the community of robotics. The answer can be framed by including the methods like segmentation, tracking, and classification components, etc. This paper reveals the survey of the works carried on the construction of 3D model with their own method and technologies applied in the process. The paper mainly goals the Reality systems to enhance the techniques used for the 3D image construction and also to segment the blurry areas in the image captured from different depths. Also the image is desirable to recognize 3D-objects of the system in the user’s environment, in order to avoid manual based method. Many existing systems are surveyed which perform 3D-object model construction.
Seeing Stars: How the Binary Bias Distorts the Interpretation of Customer Ratings

Across many different contexts, individuals consult customer ratings to inform their purchase decisions. The present studies document a novel phenomenon, dubbed “the binary bias,” which plays an important role in how individuals evaluate customer reviews. Our main proposal is that people tend to make a categorical distinction between positive ratings (e.g., 4s and 5s) and negative ratings (e.g., 1s and 2s). However, within those bins, people do not sufficiently distinguish between more extreme values (5s and 1s) and less extreme values (4s and 2s). As a result, people’s subjective representations of distributions are heavily impacted by the extent to which those distributions are imbalanced (having more 4s and 5s vs. more 1s and 2s). Ten studies demonstrate that this effect has important consequences for people’s product evaluations and purchase decisions. Additionally, we show this effect is not driven by the salience of particular bars, unrealistic distributions, certain statistical properties of a distribution, or diminishing subjective utility. Furthermore, we demonstrate this phenomenon’s relevance to other domains besides product reviews, and discuss the implications for existing research on how people integrate conflicting evidence.
Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns and Violent Crime: Crime Control Through Gun Decontrol?

"Right-to-Carry" (RTC) concealed-handgun laws mandate that authorities issue concealed handgun permits to qualified applicants. A driving force behind these laws is that allowing more citizens to legally carry guns in public places can reduce violent crime by deterring prospective criminals afraid of encountering armed civilians. Critics of the laws argue that violent altercations are more likely to turn deadly when more people carry guns. Whether the laws cause violent crime to increase or to decrease has become an important public policy question, as 33 states have now adopted such legislation. The present study evaluates Florida's 1987 RTC law, which has served as a model for other states adopting RTC laws, and prior research suggests plays a key role in the RTC debate. Specifically, we use panel data for 58 Florida counties from 1980 to 2000 to directly examine the effects on violent crime from increases in the number of people with concealed-carry permits, rather than the binary dummy variable used in prior research. We also address many of the methodological problems encountered in earlier RTC studies. We present numerous model specifications, and find little evidence that the law reduces or increases violent crime.
The Role of Differential Privacy in GDPR Compliance

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) empowers individuals with the right to control erasure of their personal data held by firms. GDPR also allows firms to retain anonymized aggregate data and statistical results. Unfortunately, most recommender systems (and many other types of machine learning models) mem-oize individual data entries as they are trained, and thus are not sufficiently anonymized to be GDPR compliant. Differential privacy formally prevents against memoization and other types of overfitting, and additionally allows for accurate analysis in a wide variety of machine learning tasks. In this position paper, we advocate that differentially private learning should be the preferred method for GDPR-compliant recommender systems.
Mentoring and its Role in Women's Career: A Critical Perspective

Organizations globally are making efforts to value gender diversity in management and are longing to achieve diversity in their workplaces. However the major concentration of attempts has been on the broad issues of diversity rather than development of women leaders. Most organizations lack well defined strategies for developing their women workforce and their leadership roles. Although hiring has been at an equal rate for both the genders, glass ceiling has often been a challenge for mid level career among women. A recent study of SHRM (2009) revealed inadequate mentoring as one of the major hurdles in developing women in leadership roles. Though cross-gender mentoring is well accepted it is rather complex and has several limitations. Despite an increase in the women workforce the number of women mentors in the Indian context is discouragingly low. Also as pointed out by Ragins (1994) the few available female mentors are overburdened with mentoring requests from women in the lower levels (Hunt& Michael, 1983). This conceptual paper aims to investigate the status of mentoring today and its role in the career of women leaders through a comprehensive literature survey. The paper critically reviews and outlines different barriers of cross- gender mentoring in the corporate set up. It further argues of the usefulness of "women mentoring women leaders", especially in the Indian business context which is still largely male dominated. The author has proposed a foundation for further empirical studies on how these barriers of male mentors and female proteges can be effectively reduced by "women mentoring women" in Indian organizations.
Making a difference: using action research to explore our educational practice

This paper describes and discusses an action research collaboration between a multi-disciplinary team of practice educators, a practice development nurse and a university lecturer in order to explore, evaluate and improve a dementia care training package developed for a range of staff providing care for people with dementia. Whilst it is recognised that the findings of this small evaluation study are only of local interest, we believe the approach we took to be of general use for other teams of practice educators as a way of exploring and evaluating their own practice. This paper will therefore focus mostly on the philosophy, methodology and conduct of the study, including our own reflections and learning as novice action researchers.
Using Tourist Typologies for Ecotourism Research

Research to identify ecotourists or segment ecotourists from other tourist types has not occurred in a consistent manner, reducing potential comparability to studies at other times and places. Ecotourists have been identified using a variety of techniques, broadly categorised as tourist typologies that are cognitive-normative and interactional. This paper tests the level of congruency among four versions of these tourist typologies (ie. researcher-based, respondent-based, activity-based, and motivation-based), using a case study from a national park in northern Thailand. Based on the considerable consistency found, several pragmatic conclusions are presented.
AIS Electronic

Technological innovation combined with entrepreneurial mindset can transform industry structures and incumbent businesses. We focus on the financial services industry, where the phenomenon of FinTech is shaking the established, traditional players and according to many experts is able to totally transform this business sector. A proven method that allows incumbent companies to sense efficiently their business environment and utilize other stakeholders in order to become agile to such changes is the utilization of open innovation. The open innovation mechanism helps incumbent firms to work with a group of talents or entrepreneurial teams or startups to develop applications and new digital business activities in order to achieve digital transformation. Through an open innovation case study, this paper tries to provide evidence of the benefits and challenges raised by the digital transformation in the well-established sector of financial services. Partici-pating actively as organizers and facilitators of the open innovation initiative helped us obtain exposure to incumbent companies and startups at a level of detail required for achieving a deep understanding on all important aspects when integrating digital technologies with the established way of doing work in the financial sector.
B/Ca in planktonic foraminifera as a proxy for surface seawater pH

Boron isotope systematics indicate that boron incorporation into foraminiferal CaCO3 is determined by the partition coefficient, K D (= $\frac{\left[{\rm B}/{\rm Ca}\right]{\rm CaCO3}}{\left[{\rm B} \left({\rm OH}\right)4- /{\rm HCO}3-\right]\rm seawater), and [B(OH)4 -/HCO3 -]seawater, providing, in principle, a method to estimate seawater pH and PCO2. We have measured B/Ca ratios in Globigerina bulloides and Globorotalia inflata for a series of core tops from the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean and in Globigerinoides ruber (white) from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) site 668B on the Sierra Leone Rise in the eastern equatorial Atlantic. B/Ca ratios in these species of planktonic foraminifera seem unaffected by dissolution on the seafloor. K D shows a strong species-specific dependence on calcification temperature, which can be corrected for using the Mg/Ca temperature proxy. A preliminary study of G. inflata from Southern Ocean sediment core CHAT 16K suggests that temperature-corrected B/Ca was ~30% higher during the last glacial. Correspondingly, pH was 0.15 units higher and aqueous PCO2 was 95 μatm lower at this site at the Last Glacial Maximum. The covariation between reconstructed PCO2 and the atmospheric pCO2 from the Vostok ice core demonstrates the feasibility of using B/Ca in planktonic foraminifera for reconstructing past variations in pH and PCO2.
Evaluation of P53 in Salivary Glands Tumors among a Syrian Sample

Objective: to evaluate the expression of P53 in salivary glands tumors among a Syrian sample. Material and methods: a retrospective analysis of gross and light microscopic features 50 salivary glands tumors that were treated and diagnosed at Almoasat hospital, the main hospital in Damascus. Only benign salivary glands tumors were included in this study, mainly pleomorphic adenoma and warthin’s tumor. Results: 158 cases were studied from 2009 to 2016. Pleomotphic adenoma was the most occurring tumor (47.7%), followed by Warthin tumor (30.9%) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (6.1%). Lesions of in minor salivary glands compromised (11.03%). Only pleomorphic adenoma and warthin’s tumor were included in the practical part of the study. All specimens showed a total negativity for P53 when they were studied under the light microscope. Conclusion: the result of this study agreed with some previously studies in other countries and was not similar to others in other countries. No differences were observed as to the type of the tumor. These results could be related to racial factors.
Detection of glucose variability in saline solutions from transmission and reflection measurements using V-band waveguides

This paper presents experimental results that demonstrate the correlation of glucose concentration in water and saline solutions with transmitted electromagnetic (EM) energy in the frequency range of 50–75 GHz. The system is based on placing the aqueous solutions in acrylic holding tanks sandwiched between two open V-band waveguides. The measured samples have clinically relevant range of glucose concentrations, as low as 0.025 wt%. Our measurements show for the first time that it is possible to establish an approximately linear relationship between the signals transmitted through this simple waveguide-based system and the glucose content in the samples. Accurate full-wave EM simulations confirm this linear correlation. The results suggest the possibility of developing a miniaturized non-invasive glucose sensing device based on the transmission of radio waves in this frequency range.
Effects of dietary inclusion of dehydrated lucerne and whole linseed on rabbit meat quality

The effect of dietary use of dehydrated lucerne meal (DLM) and whole linseed (LIN) on chemicalphysical traits, fatty acid composition, susceptibility to lipid oxidation, and sensory quality of rabbit meat and meat products (hamburgers) was studied. Two groups of 128 weaned rabbits (37 d-old) were fed on diets containing 25 or 35% DLM. At 64 d of age, the rabbits were randomly divided into four groups; two of them received the same diet whereas the others were fed on diets containing both 25 or 35% DLM and 8% linseed until slaughtering (87 d). The main effects of DLM (25 vs. 35%) and LIN (0 vs. 8%) were considered according to a 2×2 factorial statistical design. With regard to the effect of lucerne, the main result was the higher content of a-linolenic acid in meat from rabbits fed the higher level of DLM (6.34 vs. 5.82% in DLM35 and DLM25, respectively; P<0.05) without impairing the lipid susceptibility to oxidation. The use of linseed strongly (P<0.01) influenced the fatty acid composition of the meat by enhancing the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, 33.68 vs. 27.79%; for LIN8 and LIN0, respectively) and mainly a-linolenic acid which was three times higher in LIN8 rabbits (9.42 vs. 2.95%; P<0.01), producing a lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (2.28 vs. 6.59; P<0.01). However, the higher level of PUFA was related to a higher susceptibility to lipid oxidation (TBARS) of both meat and frozen (-20°C for 3 or 6 months) meat batters for hamburgers production. Despite the higher TBARS, sensory differences among hamburgers were detected only at six months frozen storage. Finally, the use of linseed did not determine a higher colour variation of the packaged hamburgers during storage (14 d at 2-4°C). This experiment indicates a very quick and significant rise in the a-linolenic acid content (three times higher after 3 weeks) when rabbits were fed during the finishing period with a diet containing 8% linseed. However, despite the nutritional importance of this essential fatty acid, care must be taken to avoid lipid oxidation and detrimental effects on the sensory qualities of meat and meat products during processing and subsequent storage.
The Chain Distribution Tensor: Linking Nonlinear Rheology and Chain Anisotropy in Transient Polymers

Transient polymer networks are ubiquitous in natural and engineered materials and contain cross-links that can reversibly break and re-form. The dynamic nature of these bonds allows for interesting mechanical behavior, some of which include nonlinear rheological phenomena such as shear thickening and shear thinning. Specifically, physically cross-linked networks with reversible bonds are typically observed to have viscosities that depend nonlinearly on shear rate and can be characterized by three flow regimes. In slow shear, they behave like Newtonian fluids with a constant viscosity. With further increase in shear rate, the viscosity increases nonlinearly to subsequently reach a maximum value at the critical shear rate. At this point, network fracture occurs followed by a reduction in viscosity (shear-thinning) with a further increase in shear rate. The underlying mechanism of shear thickening in this process is still unclear with debates between a conversion of intra-chain to inter-chain cross-linking and nonlinear chain stretch under high tension. In this paper, we provide a new framework to describe the nonlinear rheology of transient polymer networks with the so-called chain distribution tensor using recent advances from the transient network theory. This tensor contains quantitatively and statistical information of the chain alignment and possible anisotropy that affect network behavior and mechanics. We investigate shear thickening as a primary result of non-Gaussian chain behavior and derive a relationship for the nonlinear viscosity in terms of the non-dimensional Weissenberg number. We further address the criterion for network fracture at the critical shear rate by introducing a critical chain force when bond dissociation is suddenly accelerated. Finally, we discuss the role of cross-linker density on viscosity using a “sticky” reptation mechanism in the context of previous studies on metallo-supramolecular networks with reversible cross-linkers.
Electrochemical Performance and ex situ Analysis of ZnMn 2 O 4 Nanowires as Anode Materials for Lithium Rechargeable Batteries

One-dimensional ZnMn2O4 nanowires have been prepared and investigated as anode materials in Li rechargeable batteries. The highly crystalline ZnMn2O4 nanowires about 15 nm in width and 500 nm in length showed a high specific capacity of about 650 mAh·g–1 at a current rate of 100 mA·g–1 after 40 cycles. They also exhibited high power capability at elevated current rates, i.e., 450 and 350 mAh·g–1 at current rates of 500 and 1000 mA·g–1, respectively. Formation of Mn3O4 and ZnO phases was identified by ex situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies after the initial discharge–charge cycle, which indicates that the ZnMn2O4 phase was converted to a nanocomposite of Mn3O4 and ZnO phases immediately after the electrochemical conversion reaction.
Making Space for Sociability: How Children Animate the Public Realm in Suburbia

� ABSTRACT This article aims to demonstrate the significant role children play in new suburban communities, and in particular, the extent to which their circuits of sociability contribute to social cohesion in the suburbs. The discussion is located within the field of sociology of childhood, which argues that children are active agents who help to create and sustain social bonds within their neighborhoods. Drawing on focus group discussions and short essays by children on “The place where I live,” we paint a picture of how suburban life is interpreted and experienced from a child’s perspective. We argue that children develop a particular suburban sensibility that structures their view of their estate, the wider neighborhood, and the metropolitan core. Although children express considerable degrees of satisfaction with suburban life, they are critical of the forces that increasingly limit their access to suburban public space.
Spatial and temporal evolution of Pine Island Glacier thinning, 1995–2006

We use ERS‐2 and ENVISAT satellite radar altimetry to examine spatial and temporal changes in the rate of thinning of the Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, during the period 1995 to 2006. We show that the pattern of thinning has both accelerated and spread inland to encompass tributaries flowing into the central trunk of the glacier. Within the 5,400 km2 central trunk, the average rate of volume loss quadrupled from 2.6 ± 0.3 km3 yr−1 in 1995 to 10.1 ± 0.3 km3 yr−1 in 2006. The region of lightly grounded ice at the glacier terminus is extending upstream, and the changes inland are consistent with the effects of a prolonged disturbance to the ice flow, such as the effects of ocean‐driven melting. If the acceleration continues at its present rate, the main trunk of PIG will be afloat within some 100 years, six times sooner than anticipated.