Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Network and the Success of Business Start-Up

The purpose of the study is to examine the potential impact of social network usage in the success of businessstart-up. The population of the study consisted of (248) companies working at the field of plastics and rubbermanufacturing in Jordan. The study utilized a random stratified sample to withdraw a representative sample.Fifty percent of the total population was withdrawn. In other words, (124) questionnaires were distributed and(105) out of which were acceptable for statistical analysis, the study utilized Statistical Package for the SocialSciences (SPSS) to analyze the primary data collected. Reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, and regressionanalysis were performed. The study revealed a number of findings most importantly: There is a statisticalsignificant impact of social network in the success of business start-up.
Decipherment for Adversarial Offensive Language Detection

Automated filters are commonly used by online services to stop users from sending age-inappropriate, bullying messages, or asking others to expose personal information. Previous work has focused on rules or classifiers to detect and filter offensive messages, but these are vulnerable to cleverly disguised plaintext and unseen expressions especially in an adversarial setting where the users can repeatedly try to bypass the filter. In this paper, we model the disguised messages as if they are produced by encrypting the original message using an invented cipher. We apply automatic decipherment techniques to decode the disguised malicious text, which can be then filtered using rules or classifiers. We provide experimental results on three different datasets and show that decipherment is an effective tool for this task.
Special Thematic Section " Collective Memories and Present-Day Intergroup Relations : A Social-Psychological Perspective " Silence in Official Representations of History : Implications for National Identity and Intergroup Relations

Dominant representations of history evolve through differential exercise of power to enable memory of collective triumphs and silence memory of collective misdeeds. We examined silence regarding minorities in official constructions of history and the implications of this silence for national identity and intergroup relations in Turkey. A content analysis of official constructions of history inscribed in Turkish national university admissions exams (Study 1) revealed an emphasis on celebratory events, silence about ethnic and religious minorities, and a construction of national identity in ethno-cultural (e.g., as “Turk” and “Muslim”) rather than civic terms (e.g., in terms of citizenship). An investigation with Turkish participants (Study 2) revealed that denial of historical information regarding minority populations documented in sources outside the national curriculum was associated with greater endorsement of ethno-cultural constructions of identity and less support for minority rights and freedom of expression. We discuss the liberatory potential of alternative forms of historical knowledge to promote more inclusive models of identification and improve intergroup relations.
Rhodoliths and rhodolith beds

Rhodolith (maerl) beds, communities dominated by free living coralline algae, are a common feature of subtidal environments worldwide. Well preserved as fossils, they have long been recognized as important carbonate producers and paleoenvironmental indicators. Coralline algae produce growth bands with a morphology and chemistry that record environmental variation. Rhodoliths are hard but often fragile, and growth rates are only on the order of mm/yr. The hard, complex structure of living beds provides habitats for numerous associated species not found on otherwise entirely sedimentary bottoms. Beds are degraded locally by dredging and other anthropogenic disturbances, and recovery is slow. They will likely suffer severe impacts worldwide from the increasing acidity of the ocean. Investigations of rhodolith beds with scuba have enabled precise stratified sampling that has shown the importance of individual rhodoliths as hot spots of diversity. Observations, collections, and experiments by divers have revolutionized taxonomic studies by allowing comprehensive, detailed collection and by showing the large effects of the environment on rhodolith morphology. Facilitated by in situ collection and calibrations, corallines are now contributing to paleoclimatic reconstructions over a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. Beds are particularly abundant in the mesophotic zone of the Brazilian shelf where technical diving has revealed new associations and species. This paper reviews selected past and present research on rhodoliths and rhodolith beds that has been greatly facilitated by the use of scuba.
Asymptotically Median Unbiased Estimation of Coefficient Variance in a Time Varying Parameter Model

This paper considers the estimation of the variance of coefficients in time varying parameter models with stationary regressors. The maximum likelihood estimator has large point mass at zero. We therefore develop asymptotically median unbiased estimators and confidence intervals by inverting median functions of regression-based parameter stability test statistics, computed under the constant-parameter null. These estimators have good asymptotic relative efficiencies for small to moderate amounts of parameter variability. We apply these results to an unobserved components model of trend growth in postwar U.S. GDP: the MLE implies that there has been no change in the trend rate, while the upper range of the median-unbiased point estimates imply that the annual trend growth rate has fallen by 0.7 percentage points over the postwar period.
Enhanced Fingernail Recognition based on GLCM, SIFT and NN

Biometric validation innovations, for example, unique mark, face, iris, and vein, have been across the board in numerous applications from singular convenient gadgets to national ID administration frameworks. Besides, moderately more up to date biometric validation modalities including eye development, lip-movement, and so on, have been additionally looked into and created keeping in mind the end goal to enhance confirmation exactness and an ease of use of a biometric verification framework. What's more, some these sorts of modalities are powerful as a liveness identification strategy, which cannot just enhance verification exactness in customary biometric confirmation frameworks, yet additionally diminish dangers with respect to hostile to mocking assaults. This paper propose a GSN (GLCM, SIFT, NN) based finger nail recognition technique. GLCM is used for feature extraction; SIFT for Key-point extraction and NN for recognition.
Adherence to the American Heart Association Recommended Healthy Diet and Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Male Japanese Workers

Objective: The American Heart Association-recommended healthy diet (AHA-HD) is one of 7 ideal cardiovascular health metrics. Few studies have focused on use of the AHA-HD in Asian subjects. This study reports on the prevalence of adherence to the AHA-HD and examines the association between adherence to this diet and the risk for metabolic syndrome in male Japanese workers. Design: A cross-sectional study provided data from 508 male workers, aged 25 to 63 years. Participants completed a 58-item brieftype, self-administered dietary history questionnaire. The AHA-HD score include 8 components (fruits and vegetables, fish, whole grains, salt, sugar-sweetened beverages, processed meat, legumes, and saturated fatty acids). Results: The AHA-HD score of all subjects ranged from 0 to 7; no participant had a full score for all 8 components. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was significantly lower in subjects with high adherence to AHA-HD (met ≥4 components) than in those with low adherence (21.8% vs. 30.1%, respectively). High adherence to the AHA-HD was significantly associated with a low prevalence of metabolic syndrome (OR, 0.64; 95%CI, 0.42-0.97; p=0.038) after adjustment for age, total energy intake, smoking habit, and alcohol drinking. Conclusions: Improving adherence to the AHA-HD recommendations may be an effective approach to promoting better health. Achievement of eating behaviors that meet ≥4 components of the AHA-HD may lead to a reduction in the risk for metabolic syndrome.
Metabolism of the dietary lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside by human intestinal bacteria

Background. The human intestinal microbiota produces the enter olignans enterodiol (ED) and enterolactone (EL) via secoisolariciresinol (SE CO) from the dietary lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG). Therefore, bacteria modulate the bioavailability and biological properties of SDG. However, the organism s involved are poorly described. Aims. We intended to characterise the intestinal bacteria in volved in the conversion of SDG: 1) at the community level by means of the most probable numbe r m thod and fluorescent in situ hybridisation 2) at the species level by the identi fication and characterisation of strains that catalyse the underlying reactions. Results. The production of enterolignans requires the interaction of dominant and subdominant anaerobic b acterial communities. The cell density of EDand EL-producing faecal bacteria was approximat ely 6 × 10 and 3 × 10 colony forming units per gram dried faeces, respectively (n = 24 h uman adults). The occurrence of EL-producing communities was associated with the production of E L. The bacteria involved in SDG conversion are phylogenetically and functionally di verse. They include species that belong to the genera Bacteroides , Clostridium, Eggerthella, Eubacterium and Pepto-streptococcus . In addition, one isolated strain, which possibly repre sents a novel bacterial genus, catalysed the dehydrogenation of ED to EL and led to the possible id ntification of 2,3-bis(3,4dihydroxybenzyl)-butyrolactone, a new intermediate in the production of EL. The high prevalence of enterolignan production in humans (10 0%, n = 31) and the finding that SDGconverting bacteria metabolise several dietary lign ans are of relevance to the possible health implications of lignan-containing diets.
An assessment of the effects of teaching methods on academic performance of students in accounting courses

This study explores the effect of teaching methods on the academic performance of students in accounting courses. The study was carried out over two semesters at a well‐known university in Turkey in principles of financial accounting and managerial accounting courses. Students enrolled in the courses were assigned to treatment and control groups. Treatment group students solved assigned problems or cases in groups in class, while in the control group the instructor lectured on and solved the problems and cases. The results of the study show that there was no significant difference in the academic performance of the treatment and control group students in either course.
Subthreshold bipolar atrial stimulation affects the discharge rate of the sinus node : an animal study

Aim of this study was to verify whether the electrical field generated inside the right atrium by sub-threshold electrical impulses (impulses unable to induce cells activation) may condition the discharge rate of the sinus node cells. An electrophysiological study was performed on seven young farm pigs before and after denervation. After general anesthesia, pigs were stimulated with impulses delivered at constant rate by a bipolar catheter positioned inside the right atrium. The amplitude of the stimulus was set to avoid atrial capture. A 10-minute atrial stimulation was performed at a rate above and below the spontaneous heart rate, both before and after denervation. Three animals showed a conditioning of the sinus rhythm, observed as phase synchronization. The different response, or even the no response, of animals to stimulation could be due to different factors, concerning biological, pharmacological and ”geometric” conditions. The important result remains that a perturbation of the sinus rhythm can be induced by a very low electrical field, as the one generated by the activity of artificial pacemakers, and it could help explaining the onset of rhythm disturbances in paced patients.
Super‐replication in fully incomplete markets

In this work, we introduce the notion of fully incomplete markets. We prove that for these markets, the super‐replication price coincides with the model‐free super‐replication price. Namely, the knowledge of the model does not reduce the super‐replication price. We provide two families of fully incomplete models: stochastic volatility models and rough volatility models. Moreover, we give several computational examples. Our approach is purely probabilistic.
The Nonlinearity Coefficient - Predicting Generalization in Deep Neural Networks

For a long time, designing neural architectures that exhibit high performance was considered a dark art that required expert hand-tuning. One of the few well-known guidelines for architecture design is the avoidance of exploding gradients, though even this guideline has remained relatively vague and circumstantial. We introduce the nonlinearity coefficient (NLC), a measurement of the complexity of the function computed by a neural network that is based on the magnitude of the gradient. Via an extensive empirical study, we show that the NLC is a powerful predictor of test error and that attaining a right-sized NLC is essential for optimal performance. The NLC exhibits a range of intriguing and important properties. It is closely tied to the amount of information gained from computing a single network gradient. It is tied to the error incurred when replacing the nonlinearity operations in the network with linear operations. It is not susceptible to the confounders of multiplicative scaling, additive bias and layer width. It is stable from layer to layer. Hence, we argue that the NLC is the first robust predictor of overfitting in deep networks.
AUTOMATIC OBJECT DETECTION AND SEGMENTATION OF THE HISTOCYTOLOGY IMAGES USING RESHAPABLE AGENTS

The aim of this study is to suggest a method for automatic detection and segmentation of the target objects in the microscopic histology/cytology images. The detection is carried out by rectangular shapes then segmentation process starts utilizing flexible agents which are able to move and change their shapes according to a cost function. The agents are rectangular at the beginning then they gradually fit to the corresponding objects using a stochastic reshaping algorithm. The iterative reshaping process is controlled by a cost function and it is resulted in a finer segmentation of the target objects. The cost functional of the proposed method comprised of three terms including the prior shape, regional texture and gradient information. The experiments were carried out using a publicly available microscopy image dataset which contains 510 manually-labeled target cells. The segmentation performance of the proposed method is compared with another state of the art segmentation method. The results demonstrate satisfactory detection and segmentation performance of the proposed method.
Model Averaging by Stacking

The paper introduces a new Frequentist model averaging estimation procedure, based on a stacked OLS estimator across models, implementable on cross-sectional, panel, as well as time series data. The proposed estimator shows the same optimal properties of the OLS estimator under the usual set of assumptions concerning the population regression model. Relatively to available alternative approaches, it has the advantage of performing model averaging exante in a single step, optimally selecting models’ weight according to the MSE metric, i.e. by minimizing the squared Euclidean distance between actual and predicted value vectors. Moreover, it is straightforward to implement, only requiring the estimation of a single OLS augmented regression. By exploiting exante a broader information set and benefiting of more degrees of freedom, the proposed approach yields more accurate and (relatively) more efficient estimation than available expost methods.
Stable isotopes reveal regional heterogeneity in the pre-breeding distribution and diets of sympatrically breeding Pygoscelis spp. penguins

While the foraging ecology of the Adelie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae and gentoo pen- guin P. papua has been well studied, little is known on the distribution and diet of these species out- side the breeding season. In the present study we used stable carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) iso- tope analyses of eggshells to examine the pre-breeding diets and foraging habitats of female Adelie and gentoo penguins from 23 breeding colonies along the eastern and western Antarctic Peninsula (AP), South Shetland Islands, and South Orkney Islands, in 2006. Adelie penguin eggshells from the eastern AP, South Shetland Islands, and South Orkney Islands shared similar isotopic signatures and were significantly lower in both δ 13 C and δ 15 N values than eggshells from birds breeding along the western AP. This result suggests that Adelie penguin populations that are geographically separated during the breeding season by the Adelie 'gap,' a 400 km region in the western AP devoid of breed- ing Adelie penguins, also inhabit geographically distinct habitats during the late winter prior to the breeding season. To a lesser degree, gentoo penguin eggshell isotope values also varied across breeding colonies, which likely reflects local scale variation in their near-shore foraging grounds. Furthermore, unlike the breeding period when krill (primarily Euphausia superba) dominates pen- guin diets in these regions, our findings suggest that fish and/or other high trophic-level prey species comprise a significant portion (46.8 to 62.9%) of female Adelie and gentoo penguin diets prior to breeding.
Ecosystem Responses to Internal and Watershed Organic Matter Loading: Consequences for Hypoxia in the Eutrophying Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA

The contrasting impacts of externally supplied (runoff) and internally generated (nutrientstimulated phytoplankton blooms) organic matter on oxygen (02) depletion were examined and evaluated in the eutrophic, salinity-stratified Neuse River Estuary, North Carolina, USA. This nitrogen (N)limited estuary is experiencing increasing anthropogenic N loading from expanding urban, agricultural and industrial development in its watershed. Resultant algal blooms, which provided organic matter loads capable of causing extensive low O2 (hypoxic) and depleted O2 (anoxic) conditions, have induced widespread mortality of resident finand shellfish. Phytoplankton blooms followed periods of elevated N loading, except during extremely high runoff periods (e.g. hurricanes), when high rates of flushing and reduced water residence times did not allow sufficient time for bloom development. During these periods, hypoxia and anoxia were dominated by watershed-derived organic matter loading. Externally vs internally generated organic matter loading scenarios were examined in sequential years (1994 to 1996) to compare the differential impacts of an average discharge year ( l 0 yr mean hydrological conditions) (1994), N-stimulated summer algal blooms [1995), and a major hurricane (Fran; September 1996). The responses of primary production, hypoxia, and anoxia to these hydrologically contrasting years and resultant organic matter loadings help distinguish watershed from internal forcing of 0, dynamics and fish kills.
STATISTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CHANDRA SOURCE CATALOG

The first release of the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) contains ∼95,000 X-ray sources in a total area of 0.75% of the entire sky, using data from ∼3900 separate ACIS observations of a multitude of different types of X-ray sources. In order to maximize the scientific benefit of such a large, heterogeneous data set, careful characterization of the statistical properties of the catalog, i.e., completeness, sensitivity, false source rate, and accuracy of source properties, is required. Characterization efforts of other large Chandra catalogs, such as the ChaMP Point Source Catalog or the 2 Mega-second Deep Field Surveys, while informative, cannot serve this purpose, since the CSC analysis procedures are significantly different and the range of allowable data is much less restrictive. We describe here the characterization process for the CSC. This process includes both a comparison of real CSC results with those of other, deeper Chandra catalogs of the same targets and extensive simulations of blank-sky and point-source populations.
Estimation of depth to top of magnetic sources using the local-wavenumber approach in an area of shallow Moho and Curie depth — The Red Sea

The local-wavenumber method estimates the depth to a magnetic source based on the spectral content of a single anomaly assuming that the base of the magnetic body is at infinite depth. However, the “infinite-depth” assumption can lead to significant underestimation of the depth to the top of magnetic bodies, especially in areas where the depth to the bottom of the magnetic layer is not large compared to the depth to the top, as would occur in high heat-flow regions and thinned continental margins. Such underestimation of depths has been demonstrated in model studies and using real data with seismic and well control. We evaluated a modification to the local-wavenumber approach to estimate the depth to the top of magnetic sources assuming that the depth to the bottom of the magnetic sources is controlled by the Curie temperature or crustal thickness. We applied this new method to a simple model of a continental margin and to magnetic survey data over the central Red Sea where the Curie isotherm is shallow. The effective structural index of this finite depth extent model is found to increase continuously from the continent to the ocean as the depth to the magnetic basement increases and the depth to the bottom of the magnetic layer decreases. We have also discovered in this study that the local-wavenumber maxima correlate well with major seafloor spreading magnetic reversal epochs in the central Red Sea segment.
Phonon assisted thermophoretic motion of gold nanoparticles inside carbon nanotubes

The authors investigate the thermally driven mass transport of gold nanoparticles confined inside carbon nanotubes using molecular dynamics simulations. The observed thermophoretic motion of the gold nanoparticles correlates with the phonon dispersion exhibited by a standard carbon nanotube and, in particular, with the breathing mode of the tube. Additionally, the results show an increased static friction for gold nanoparticles confines inside a zig-zag carbon nanotube when increasing the size (length) of the nanoparticles. However, an unexpected, opposite trend is observed for the same nanoparticles inside armchair tubes.
Comparison of Structural Relaxation Behavior in As-Cast and Pre-Annealed Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glasses Just below Glass Transition

The i-relaxation of pre-annealed Zr55Cu30Ni5Al10 bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) was compared with that of as-cast Zr-based BMGs including Zr55Cu30Ni5Al10. The i-relaxation was investigated by volume relaxation. The relaxation behavior was well described by a stretched exponential relaxation function, � ðt Þ� exp½�ð t=¸iÞ ¢ i � , with the isothermal relaxation time, ¸i, and the Kohlrausch exponent, ¢i. The ¢i exhibited the strong temperature dependence for the pre-annealed BMG, while the weak temperature dependence was visualized for the as-cast BMG similar to the dynamic relaxation. The ¸i’s were modified by Moynihan and Narayanaswamy-Tool-Moynihan methods that reduce the difference in the thermal history of sample. As a result, the relaxation kinetics in the glass resembled that of a liquid deduced from the behavior of viscosity in the supercooled liquid. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2015023]