Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent Energy Consumption Trends in American Homes

Given the growing environmental awareness, this paper intends to provide an updated picture on the relationships between 1) demographic factors and number of residential sustainable features (mainly appliances), 2) demographic factors and energy consumption (for all fuels), and 3) house size and energy consumption in American households. Using data from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), this study applies descriptive and inferential statistics (poisson regression, spearman correlation and analysis of variance) to evaluate those relationships. The results indicate that income influences the number of sustainable appliances in a home, while education does not; on the other hand, the findings also indicate that education has a significant relationship to energy consumption (measured in thousand BTUs) per area of home, while income does not. Additionally, a significant moderate correlation between size of home and energy consumption was confirmed. This information is important given the steady but constant rise in home sizes in the U.S. since 1970s. Outcomes of this study can help understand the impact of demographic factors have on sustainable housing choices and on energy consumption while using a recent data set with large sample size.
Desempeño innovador y tamaño de la firma: heterogeneidad y sesgo de publicación abordados desde un análisis de meta-regresión

El presente trabajo aborda la relación entre tamaño de la firma y desempeño innovador desde un análisis de meta-regresión (amr). La diversidad de coeficientes de regresión estimados reportados por la literatura empírica lleva a preguntarse si dicha disparidad se debe a la variabilidad muestral o si existen otros factores que moderan esta relación. El amr es una metodología que permite responder esta pregunta y mediante la cual se pueden detectar sesgos en la publicación de resultados de investigaciones empíricas. A partir de una intensa revisión bibliográfica y de la conformación de una muestra de 125 artículos que reportan un total de 880 estimaciones econométricas de la citada relación, se analiza la presencia de heterogeneidad y de sesgo de publicación. Los resultados señalan indicios de sesgos de publicación; una vez descontado dicho sesgo, se observa la persistencia de un efecto positivo del tamaño de la firma sobre el desempeño innovador.
‘It is not good for the person to be alone’ : The capabilities approach and the right to communicate

For decades, attempts have been made to define a ‘right to communicate’. The rise of media technologies, which are characterized by abundance of channels and information, interactivity, mobility, and multimediated messaging, has allowed to rethink this right in a context converging traditional media and telecommunications and referring to communicating as an essential human capability. Applying Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to communications, we argue that communicating is a capability required to realize such functionings as participating in political, cultural, social, educational, and commercial life and is essential to promote belonging to a collective. The ‘negative’ right to free speech should be replaced by a positive right to communicate, which should include free speech, access to information, privacy, and utilization of communications in order to belong to a community.
Dynamic Evolutionary Games and Coordination of Multiple Recycling Channels considering Online Recovery Platform

Nowadays, with a great number of household electrical appliances being discarded in every corner of the world every day, household electrical appliances recycling is attracting more attention. In this paper, we build a closed-loop supply chain that consists of a manufacturer and a third-party recycler based on the development of “Internet Plus” recovery platform. We thoroughly analyze the model and its evolution by chaos theory, complex dynamics theory, and numerical simulation and introduce the adaptive method to control the chaos of the system. We find that as the manufacturer increases the retail price, the stable area of the market becomes smaller. At the same time, when the manufacturers direct recycle price or the price adjustment range of the products recycled from the third party exceeds a certain threshold, all the recycle prices in the whole market will fluctuate, thus causing market chaos. Among them, as an adjustment decision method, delay strategy reduces the volatility of recycle price and makes it return to a stable state, which is an effective method to control system disorder. In addition, the third-party recycler will change the optimal subsidy model according to the government’s price subsidy level, while the manufacturer always prefers the price subsidy model.
Adsorbents, Working Pairs and Coated Beds for Natural Refrigerants in Adsorption Chillers—State of the Art

Adsorption refrigeration systems are promising, sustainable solutions for many cooling applications. The operating range and the performance of an adsorption cooling cycle are strongly dependent on the properties of adsorbents, adsorbates, and bed coatings. Therefore, further research and analysis may lead to improved performance of adsorption coolers. In this paper, studies on working pairs using natural refrigerants and the properties of adsorbent coatings were reviewed. The selected working pairs were then thermodynamically characterised and ranked in terms of refrigerant evaporation temperature values. This was found to be a key parameter affecting the applicability of a given adsorbent/adsorbate pair and the value of SCP (Specific Cooling Power), COP (Coefficient of Performance) parameters, which are now commonly used comparison criteria of adsorption chillers. In the analysis of the coating studies, the focus was on the effect of individual parameters on the performance of the cooling system and the effect of using coated beds compared to packed beds. It was found that a fundamental problem in comparing the performance of different cooling systems is the use of different operating conditions during the tests. Therefore, the analysis compares the performance of the systems along with the most important thermodynamic cycle parameters for the latest studies.
Mechanical and thermal properties of cellulose nanocrystals from jute fibers reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract This study investigated the effects of loadings of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) extracted from jute fibers on the chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of the Epoxy matrix. The CNC/Epoxy composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, tensile tests, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. Experimental results showed that the tensile strength, modulus, and work of fracture showed a statistically significant increase from 1 to 5 wt. % CNC loading. In addition, TG measurements revealed that the onset temperature (Tonset) and temperature at maximum decomposition rate (Tmax) for composites decreased compared to neat epoxy with increasing CNC concentration. Dynamic mechanical analysis studies showed that the storage modulus values at 35 °C and 120 °C decreased for lower 1 wt% CNC content sample compared to neat epoxy, then increased for samples loaded with 3 and 5 wt% of CNC.
Sensor Combination Selection Strategy for Kayak Cycle Phase Segmentation Based on Body Sensor Networks

Motion capture technology has been widely used in the sport analysis to improve their performance and reduce the injury risk. Kayak, a popular outdoor sport, employs the coordination of multiple muscles and skeletons, especially those of upper limbs that must be investigated carefully. The fine-time phase segmentation of rowing cycle plays an important role in analyzing kayaker’s technique. Aiming at the problem of laborious manual phase labeling in the traditional video analysis method, an automatic phase segmentation method for kayak rowing is proposed combined with a machine learning algorithm. In this article, inertial sensors and a data fusion algorithm are used to calculate the joint angles between arm and trunk, left elbow and right elbow when the athlete is rowing. According to the permutation and combination principle, the angle sequence is combined in nine different ways, and four machine learning algorithms (decision tree, support vector machine, $k$ -nearest neighbor, bagging ensemble learning) are used to study the effects of different combinations on rowing phase division. Among them, the precision of phase segmentation becomes higher with the increase of motion information. The combination of arm to trunk joint angle only needs three data collection nodes; thus, the computational cost is smaller; moreover, all the four algorithms show good classification accuracy (up to 98.1%). The results indicating that the combination of arm to trunk joint angle and support vector machine algorithm could better complete the task of the phase segmentation for kayak rowing.
How Much Moral Status Could Artificial Intelligence Ever Achieve?

Philosophers often argue about whether fetuses, animals, or AI systems do or do not have moral status. We will suggest instead that different entities have different degrees of moral status with respect to different moral reasons in different circumstances for different purposes. Recognizing this variability of moral status will help to resolve some but not all debates about the potential moral status of AI systems in particular.
The Impact of Family Ownership on the Capital Structure of Palestinian Firms

Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of family ownership on the capital structure with control variables that have been found to affect the capital structure demonstrated in previous studies in the context of the Palestinian market. Design/Methodology/Approach: Panel data (unbalanced) was used to sample non-financial firms listed in the stock exchange from 2010 to 2018. Regression with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors was used to address serial correlation and heteroscedasticity issues and possibly correlate between the groups (panels). Findings: The findings from the T-tests showed that family firms were less leveraged, less in the concentration of ownership, and lesser in their size compared to non-family firm counterparts but were more profitable than non-family firms. Furthermore, regression analysis results showed that the impact of family ownership negatively and significantly affected debt usage in the capital structure (book value of debt). The capital structure (market value of debt) was also positively and significantly affected. Practical Implications: Findings of the study help investors and lenders in the Palestinian market to understand how family firms behave toward employing debt in the capital structure. This may be important in the context of the Palestinian market as family ownership is considered a leading player in ownership structure. Originality/Value: Former studies have focused majorly on the effect of ownership structure on the firm’s performance. The impact of ownership structure on the capital structure received less attention in general and particularly family ownership. To our best knowledge, the current empirical research is the first to analyze the resolutions of the capital structure of family companies.
Spatial Patterns in the Association between the Prevalence of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Socioeconomic and Climate Indicators in a Mediterranean Region

The World Health Organization endorses the study of diseases from the perspective of the Determinants of Health (DH). DH are known as the circumstances in which people are born and raised, the environment in which they grow up and age and their lifestyle. The aim of this study is to analyze the spatial behavior of the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in 2017 in Aragon, a Mediterranean region in Spain, using a DH approach. The methodological process entailed building a spatial database collating sociodemographic and climate indicators, and then evaluating the spatial variability of the relationships between DH indicators and disease prevalence by combining the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) models and cartographic design techniques. GWR evidences both global and spatially varying relationships, although each prevalence behaves differently. Asthma seems closely tied to local climate patterns whereas COPD is largely influenced by the built environment. Consequently, the socioeconomic and climatic contrasts characterizing the study area translate into several DH scenarios leading to situations vulnerable to the prevalence of asthma and COPD. This differential DH behavior detected by local regression models is relevant to guiding and refining public health decision-making.
ESTABLISHING CONSUMER TRUST IN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF ISLAMIC BANKS

In recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a vital component and mainstream approach to business, with much attention devoted to the implications of CSR policies and practices. Yet firms still diffuse CSR initiatives without fully understanding the well-being of their stakeholders and the reactions towards the firm. The success of CSR can be determined by understanding consumer behaviours, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. In the case of Islamic banking, a sceptical attitude and atmosphere of distrust has prevailed because consumers are unable to distinguish between Islamic and conventional banking products and systems, and struggle to find effective CSR outcomes through Islamic banks. In a competitive environment where CSR differentiation and credibility are ongoing challenges, this research poses a fundamental question on what should constitute a CSR strategy of Islamic banks to develop trust. Using a general inductive qualitative approach, pertinent issues related to CSR and Islamic banks were extracted from 75 existing articles, to propose a framework using Quranic terms (ikhlas, istiqama, ta’awaun, tazkiya) to construct a favourable image of Islamic banks and CSR initiatives. The research findings suggest that this framework is capable of tackling consumers’ negative attitude and scepticism of Islamic banks and CSR activities.
Energy optimization using swarm intelligence for IoT-Authorized underwater wireless sensor networks

The technology advancement in the Internet of Things (IoT) enables a variety of smart monitoring applications assisted by networks like Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and Underwater WSNs (UWSNs). The IoT-UWSNs supported a wide range of applications such as underwater data collection, underwater equipment monitoring, underwater imaging, etc. The acoustic signals have been utilized for communication in IoT-UWSNs over radio signals and optical signals. Data transmission using acoustic signals is suffering from lower throughput, excessive energy consumption, long transmission delay, and lower network lifetime. Several data forwarding and clustering algorithms have recently been proposed to enhance UWSN's performances. This paper proposed a novel routing solution for energy and QoS-efficient data transmission from the underwater sensor node to the surface sink using Swarm Intelligence (SI). This protocol called Energy Optimization using Routing Optimization (EORO) protocol. To optimize the UWSNs performance, we used Effective Fitness Function-based Particle Swarm Optimization (EFF-PSO) to select the best forwarder node for data transmission. In EORO, forwarding relay nodes discovered by the intended source node using location information firstly. Then EFF-PSO algorithm is applied to select the optimal relay node considering the rich set of parameters. Four parameters of each forwarder node used for fitness computation as residual energy, packet transmission ability, node connectivity, and distance. These parameters are intelligently selected to avoid packet collisions to achieve energy consumption and delay reduction with higher throughput. An experimental result shows that the EORO protocol outperformed underlying routing techniques using throughput, energy consumption, delay, and Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR).
The Role of Subjective Construals on Reporting and Reasoning about Social Media Use

The ways people estimate and make sense of the time they spend with social media should be influenced by the subjective construals that they draw on to guide their perceptions and behaviors on social media. Through qualitative analysis of 60 interviews, we identify how subjective construals of social media can influence two distinct processes relevant to the study of social media effects. First, we find that the process of estimating and self-reporting time spent on social media is influenced by differences in how people construed “social media” in field-standard questions. Conceptual variability in definitions of “social media,” aggregated time spent across multiple sessions and platforms, and perceived norms about use affected their responses. Second, we find that participants’ reasoning about the role of social media in their lives revolved around two key construals about the valence of its effects (positive vs negative) and their perceived agency relative to social media (being in control vs subject to control). People who felt in control of their use also viewed social media more positively, and those who felt controlled by social media viewed it more negatively. These conceptualizations of the nature and effects of social media use—which we discuss as social media mindsets—were closely tied to behaviors and outcomes. These two findings have fundamental implications not only for survey methodologies in social media research but also for how we conceptualize the relationship between social media use and psychological outcomes.
Condensation heat transfer of a hybrid hydrophilic–hydrophobic surface with different arrangements

Abstract Condensation, a process in which the phase changes from vapor to liquid, plays a crucial role in various industrial systems. So far, several techniques have been proposed to improve the characteristics of condensation. The manipulation of the wettability of a surface is a novel scheme which reduces the heat resistance of the droplets on the surface. The present study experimentally explored the effect of hybrid hydrophilic–hydrophobic surfaces on the formation of primary nucleation, the movement of droplets, and heat transfer. The hydrophobic and hybrid surfaces fabricated by sol-gel and deep coating method. Three distinct surfaces were considered including (i) a hydrophobic surface, (ii) a hybrid hydrophilic–hydrophobic surface with a vertical arrangement (HHSVA), and (iii) a hybrid hydrophilic–hydrophobic surface with a horizontal arrangement (HHSHA). It was found that the HHSVA markedly enhanced the heat and mass transfer compared with the hydrophobic and the HHSHA configurations. Compared with that of the hydrophobic surface, the heat transfer of the HHSVA and the HHSHA increased by 31.9% and decreased by 25.9%, respectively. Then, the heat transfer on these hybrid surfaces depends on the orientation of surfaces. The optimized orientation can increase the heat transfer and improve the droplet’s dynamic parameter on hybrid surfaces.
Reflecting Backward to Project Forward: Refocusing on Values in Organizational Change

As ideals about what is worth having, doing, and being, values are core to organizational functioning. Various organizational elements, such as design, identity, and culture, as well as organizational practices, are infused with values, pointing to the critical role values play during organizational change. While we know that the congruence between established values and those of prescribed changes influences change outcomes, our understanding of the role of values in organizational change processes remains largely speculative. In this paper, I outline how taking a value-centered approach to organizational change can enhance our understanding of organizational change processes.
Ketamine versus Dexmedetomidine in Local Wound Infiltration for Postoperative Pain Relief in Cesarean Section

Background: Cesarean delivery is a frequently obstetric operation in Egypt with a recently reported over all cesarean section rate of 54% and it causes moderate to severe postoperative discomfort. Infiltration of the wound site is a method to improve postoperative analgesia. The aim of the work: To compare the pain relief effects of ketamine versus dexmedetomidine combined to bupivacaine in local wound infiltration in patients underwent cesarean section and to estimate side effects of medications. Patients and Methods: This randomized, controlled study including 90 women were subjected for elective cesarean delivery under general anesthesia and were divided at random into 3 equal groups to receive 40 ml bupivacaine (0.25%) + either 2 mg/kg ketamine in (group A), 2 μg/kg dexmedetomidine in (group B) or 2 ml saline in (group C) via local wound infiltration. The primary outcome was time of the first analgesia requested. The secondary outcomes were total dose of analgesia per 24 hours, Visual analogue scale, time of starting movement, breast-feeding, passing flatus or stool, start of eating and adverse effects of medications. Results: A significant increase in time of the first analgesic request in group A (8.4 ±1.91) h. and group B (7.5±1.81) h. than group C (4.3±1.24) h. A significant decrease in pethidine consumption in group A (59 ± 28.93 mg) than group B (72 ± 23.1 mg) and group C (102 ±16 mg). The visual analogue scale (VAS) was significantly lower (p <0.001) in groups A and B than in group C. The time of start movement, breast-feeding, passing flatus and eating was decreased in groups A and B than in group C Conclusions: Addition of ketamine or dexmedetomidine to local anesthetics wound infiltration increased time to the first analgesia request and decreased total analgesic consumption, but ketamine is superior.
The Life and Work of Mary-Anne Elizabeth Plaatjies-Van Huffel in Church and Society with specific Reference to the Confession of Belhar

The untimely death of Prof. Mary-Anne Plaatjies-Van Huffel challenges everybody who knew her to reflect on her life and work. One of the outstanding attributes of Plaatjies-Van Huffel was the way in which she “lived” the Confession of Belhar. To her it was much more than a theological document. It guided her life, was the lens through which she looked at church and society and, in the process, became personified in her life and work. This is the focus of the article. It starts off with a short overview of the life of Plaatjies-Van Huffel before it gives a short description of the importance of the Confession of Belhar. How the life of Plaatjies-Van Huffel and the Belhar Confession became inseparable is then described through the three critical areas which are addressed by the Confession, namely unity, social justice and reconciliation. Examples of her leadership in the reunification process between the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), and press statements on social justice and reconciliation are then used to illustrate how the Confession was embodied by Mary-Anne Plaatjies-Van Huffel.