Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Techniques Using SmartPLS

SmartPLS is one of the prominent software applications for Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). It was developed by Ringle, Wende & Will (2005). The software has gained popularity since its launch in 2005 not only because it is freely available to academics and researchers, but also because it has a friendly user interface and advanced reporting features. Although an extensive number of journal articles have been published on the topic of PLS modeling, the amount of instructional materials available for this software is limited. This paper is written to address this knowledge gap and help beginners to understand how PLS-SEM can be used in marketing research.
Analysis of Workload Behavior in Scientific and Historical Long-Term Data Repositories

The scope of archival systems is expanding beyond cheap tertiary storage: scientific and medical data is increasingly digital, and the public has a growing desire to digitally record their personal histories. Driven by the increase in cost efficiency of hard drives, and the rise of the Internet, content archives have become a means of providing the public with fast, cheap access to long-term data. Unfortunately, designers of purpose-built archival systems are either forced to rely on workload behavior obtained from a narrow, anachronistic view of archives as simply cheap tertiary storage, or extrapolate from marginally related enterprise workload data and traditional library access patterns. To close this knowledge gap and provide relevant input for the design of effective long-term data storage systems, we studied the workload behavior of several systems within this expanded archival storage space. Our study examined several scientific and historical archives, covering a mixture of purposes, media types, and access models---that is, public versus private. Our findings show that, for more traditional private scientific archival storage, files have become larger, but update rates have remained largely unchanged. However, in the public content archives we observed, we saw behavior that diverges from the traditional “write-once, read-maybe” behavior of tertiary storage. Our study shows that the majority of such data is modified---sometimes unnecessarily---relatively frequently, and that indexing services such as Google and internal data management processes may routinely access large portions of an archive, accounting for most of the accesses. Based on these observations, we identify areas for improving the efficiency and performance of archival storage systems.
Economic, Educational and Conservation Benefits of Sea Turtle Based Ecotourism: A Study focused on Mon Repos

The study examines the economic, educational and conservation values of sea turtle-based ecotourism in Australia. The centre-piece of this research is a case study undertaken at the Mon Repos Conservation Park located near the town of Bundaberg, Queensland. Each year from mid-November to end of March, thousands of visitors visit Mon Repos Conservation Park to view sea turtles either nesting on the one km stretch of beach or to see hatchlings emerge from their nests and march on to the sea or both. As a result of this activity there are considerable economic benefits to the Bundaberg region during the sea turtle season. The study examines the economic impact of sea turtle viewing at Mon Repos to the region. The study assesses the recreational value of sea turtle viewing. Furthermore, sea turtle-based ecotourism also provides educational and conservation benefits that are important for the protection and conservation of sea turtles, especially in Australia. The study specifies the extent of the educational impact and conservation appreciation of sea turtle viewing at Mon Repos Conservation Park. As a background to the study, Mon Repos visitors’ profile and socio-economic data of visitors are provided. In order to conduct this study, 1,200 survey forms were distributed, out of which 519 usable responses were obtained.
Previsões climáticas sazonais sobre o Brasil: avaliação do RegCM3 aninhado no modelo global CPTEC/COLA

This study presents an assessment of seasonal forecasts from the regional climate model RegCM3 nested to the CPTEC/COLA global model. The used RegCM3 version is 60 km horizontal resolution over an area that includes large part of South America. RegCM3 and CPTEC/COLA forecasts were evaluated using the rainfall and air temperature analyses from Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), respectively. From May 2005 to July 2007, 27 seasonal forecast of rainfall and air temperature (except for air temperature from CPTEC/COLA with 26 forecasts) were evaluated over three regions of Brazil: Northeast (NDE), Southeast (SDE) and South (SUL). RegCM3 forecasts were also compared with the climatologic fields of the analyses. The statistical indexes (bias, correlation coefficient, root mean square error and efficiency coefficient) showed that over the three regions (NDE, SDE and SUL) the RegCM3 predicted seasonal rainfall is closer to the observations than the CPTEC/COLA. Moreover, the RegCM3 is a best predictor of the seasonal rainfall than the average of the observations during the period. For air temperature, the RegCM3 forecasts perform better than the CPTEC/COLA over NDE and SUL regions, while the CPTEC/COLA shows better performance ovver SDE. Finally, the RegCM3 seasonal air temperature and rainfall estimated are closer to the observations than the observed climatology. These results suggest a potential utility of RegCM3 to be used for seasonal forecast which will be explored in the future using ensemble forecast.
The Real Dirt on Rainforest Fertility

AGRICULTUREI, AS, B-- In the past few years, a small but growing group of researchers has been investigating terra preta, a rich, black soil that is believed to have sustained large settlements in Amazonia for 2 millennia. By understanding how indigenous groups created these so-called Amazonian dark earths, these researchers hope, today's scientists might be able to transform some of the region's nutrient-poor soils into new terra preta. Indeed, experimental programs to produce "terra preta nova" have already begun.
The Morphological description of the Dental Remains from the Early Paleolithic site of Dmanisi (Georgia)

The early Paleolithic site of Dmanisi was discovered in 1983, situated in the environs of the medieval town of Dmanisi, placed on the promontory formed by the confluence of the Mashavera and Pinezauri rivers (Gabunia et.al., 2000). The main objective of the study was to perform the morphological description of the complete inventory of Dmanisi hominin dental remains, as it had never been done before. This would help to characterize morphologically dentition of the Dmanisi hominins and make a general comparison with other hominin dentitions to deepen the knowledge of their taxonomic and phylogenetic status. Analyses showed that Dmanisi hominins are morphologically closer to the African Plio-Pleistocene hominids than to the other representatives out of Africa and they share both traits primitive and derived ones, but the primitive features are in majority. These hominin fossils represent the first evidence of human presence out of Africa, yielding an age of 1.77 m.a. (Gabunia and Vekua, 1995).
Adoption of Agricultural Production Practices: Lessons Learned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Area Studies Project

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Area Studies Project was designed to characterize the extent of adoption of nutrient, pest, soil, and water management practices and to assess the factors that affect adoption for a wide range of management strategies across different natural resource regions. The project entailed the administration of a detailed field-level survey to farmers in 12 watersheds in the Nation to gather data on agricultural practices, input use, and natural resource characteristics associated with farming activities. The data were analyzed by the Economic Research Service using a consistent methodological approach with the full set of data to study the constraints associated with the adoption of micronutrients, N-testing, split nitrogen applications, green manure, biological pest controls, pest-resistant varieties, crop rotations, pheromones, scouting, conservation tillage, contour farming, strip cropping, grassed waterways, and irrigation. In addition to the combined-areas analyses, selected areas were chosen for analysis to illustrate the difference in results between aggregate and area-specific models. The unique sample design for the survey was used to explore the importance of field-level natural resource data for evaluating adoption at both the aggregate and watershed levels. Further analyses of the data illustrated how the adoption of specific management practices affects chemical use and crop yields.
Crust‐mantle whispering gallery phases: A deterministic model of teleseismic Pn wave propagation

Teleseismic Pn waves are modeled as a sum of whispering galley waves, which propagate in a waveguide composed of a simple high velocity mantle lid underlain by a low velocity zone. This model is able to account for those Pn wave propagation properties that are not dominated by scattering, i.e., their apparent velocity and lack of long period energy. Pn apparent velocity data constrain the P wave velocity gradient in the upper 100 km of mantle to be low; dvp/dz<0.001 s−1. The whispering gallery rays are shown to have significant amplitude (when compared to the direct P wave) and to have spectra that rapidly fall off at long periods. Yet this model cannot account for certain details of the observed Pn amplitude spectra. Most important among these is the spectral ratio of Pn to P, which the model underestimates by a factor of 10. Nevertheless, the model presents a useful framework for understanding some characteristics of Pn wave propagation and provides an estimate of the distribution of energy with depth in the Pn waves.
The anomalous ionosphere between solar cycles 23 and 24

The solar minimum period during 2008–2009 was characterized by lower thermospheric density than the previous solar minimum and lower than any previously measured. Recent work used the NCAR Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics General Circulation Model to show that the primary cause of density changes from 1996 to 2008 was a small reduction in solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance, causing a decrease in thermospheric temperature and hence a contracted thermosphere. There are similar effects in the ionosphere, with most measurements showing an F region ionosphere that is unusually low in density, and in peak altitude. This paper addresses the question of whether model simulations previously conducted, and their solar, geomagnetic, and anthropogenic inputs, produce ionospheric changes commensurate with observations. We conducted a 15 year model run and obtained good agreement with observations of the global mean thermospheric density at 400 km throughout the solar cycle, with a reduction of ~30% from the 1996 solar minimum to 2008–2009. We then compared ionosonde measurements of the midday peak density of the ionospheric F region (NmF2) to the model simulations at various locations. Reasonable agreement was obtained between measurements and the model, supporting the validity of the neutral density comparisons. The global average NmF2 was estimated to have declined between the two solar minima by ~15%. In these simulations, a 10% reduction of solar EUV plays the largest role in causing the ionospheric change, with a minor contribution from lower geomagnetic activity and a very small additional effect from anthropogenic increase in CO2.
Tectonic versus glacial isostatic deformation in Europe

Tectonic deformation induced by the Alpine collision and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) in Europe are modelled by means of a finite element scheme and viscoelastic normal modes techniques in order to compare the resulting deformation patterns with the ITRF2000 (International Terrestrial Reference Frame) geodetic dataset. Due to the Alpine collision and to the flow from the equatorial mantle to the deglaciated regions in the northern hemisphere, both tectonics and GIA contribute to the observed widespread shortening, with tectonics playing a major role in the southern part of the modelled domain, from Potsdam to the Alpine front, and GIA affecting the shortening in proximity of the region subject to post glacial rebound. Since the stiff Baltic Shield causes a counterclockwise rotation of the collision velocity away from the shield itself and the GIA induced velocities are directed outward from the deglaciated region, both tectonics and GIA contribute to the observed east‐west baseline extension of 0.8–1.1 mm/yr at the latitude of ONSA.
Identifying Economies of Size in Conventional Surface Water Treatment and Brackish-Groundwater Desalination: Case Study in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Two primary potable water-treatment technologies used in South Texas include conventional surface-water and reverse-osmosis (RO) desalination of brackish-groundwater. As the region's population continues to grow, municipalities are searching for economical means to expand their water supplies. Economies of size for both technologies are an important consideration for future expansion decisions.
Magmatic cycles and formation of the upper oceanic crust at spreading centers: Geochemical study of a continuous extrusive section in the Oman ophiolite

The data and analysis presented in this paper provide an assessment of lava morphologies and the geochemistry of lavas from the Oman ophiolite. In order to provide detailed constraints on the construction of the upper oceanic crust, a continuous volcanic transect (300 m‐thick) was sampled at high‐frequency in the Semail ophiolite along Wadi Shaffan. The Wadi Shaffan section is composed mainly of pillow lavas interbedded with massive flows and occasional hyaloclastites. The sampling performed along Wadi Shaffan implies temporal variations in the activity of the ridge. The section is characterized by chemical compositions consistent with those of V1‐Geotimes volcanism. The Wadi Shaffan transect was built through two main petrological and geochemical sequences of volcanic activity. Trace element ratios (e.g. Zr/Nb and La/Yb) allow us to distinguish two main sequences with two different parental magmas. Differences in the degree of partial melting are required to explain these trace element ratio variations. Beyond these differences in parent melt composition, variations in trace element abundances (TiO2, Zr, REE) involve differentiation processes prior to emplacement. In the lower sequence, less differentiated lavas are in the upper part of the cycle. Magma mixing is proposed to explain this reversed geochemical evolution through time. In the upper sequence, geochemical analysis suggests a different magma chamber process. This sequence consists of multiple events of magma emplacement. Variations in trace element abundance suggest four magmatic cycles. Each magmatic cycle is characterized by primitive lavas evolving to more differentiated lavas with time. The upper sequence lavas appear to be in equilibrium with clinopyroxene and lower sills from the MTZ (Mantle‐Crust Transition Zone) and with lower gabbros. We propose a model in which the upper sequence lavas were directly derived from the MTZ and lower gabbro sills and then transported to the surface without interaction with higher crustal levels.
Identification of Unique Hematopoietic Stem Cell Properties

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are sufficient and required for life long production of all blood cell lineages. Steady state HSCs are largely quiescent and we demonstrate that the kinetics of HSC cell cycling are slower compared to more committed progenitor cells also during expansion and self-renewal ex vivo and in physiological conditions. Such slow kinetics during cell division might reflect a unique cell cycle transit of HSCs that could be critical for maintenance of the indispensable HSC pool and explain the observed loss of engraftment capacity of dividing cells in bone marrow populations enriched for HSCs. Recent studies have suggested that HSCs might possess a much broader differentiation potential but in most cases the reported efficiency of such developmental plasticity has been rather low. We demonstrate that HSCs efficiently engraft within the infarcted myocardium following transplantation. However, engraftment is transitory and hematopoietic in nature. Our findings challenge the experimental basis for ongoing extensive clinical bone marrow transplantation trials of myocardial infarction patients, as these trials were largely initiated on the assumption that HSCs could generate high levels of cardiomyocytes through transdifferentiation. In contrast, low frequency HSC-derived cardiomyocytes were observed outside the infarcted myocardium, but were exclusively derived through cell fusion. Although such heterotypic cell fusion with hematopoietic cells and cardiomyocytes, Purkinje neurons, skeletal muscle and hepatocytes could be detected following injury induction of adult mice it did not occur in steady state tissues. On the other hand during fetal development lymphocyte-derived hepatocytes and Purkinje neurons demonstrate for the first time that the hematopoietic system might contribute toward non-hematopoietic cell lineages through fusion during normal fetal development.
Mineralogical And Technological Properties Of The Zeolites From Foça (İzmir), Bigadiç (Balıkesir) and Gördes (Manisa)

Technological analyses of zeolites are important for their areas of use. Zeolite samples were collected from different regions (Izmir-Foca, Balikesir-Bigadic, Manisa-Gordes) for this study. First mineralogical and chemical analyses of the samples were conducted in the study. Later on, technological tests of the samples were made for their utilizing in ceramic industry ( pre-technological ), in paper industry (filling and coating) and as cat litter. Finally, the results were evaluated. It was concluded that some samples can be used in baked ceramics in the ceramic industry; they have high whitening properties to be used in paper industry. As for cement additives, their flexural strength is observed in a range between 0,94 - 12,85 kgf /cm 2 while their compressive strength is between 2,08 - 51,20 kgf /cm 2 . The porosity of some samples is above 40% which means they meet the criteria to be used as soil conditioners.
Churn Prediction via Multimodal Fusion Learning: Integrating Customer Financial Literacy, Voice, and Behavioral Data

In today’s competitive landscape, businesses grapple with customer retention. Churn prediction models, although beneficial, often lack accuracy due to the reliance on a single data source. The intricate nature of human behavior and high-dimensional customer data further complicate these efforts. To address these concerns, this paper proposes a multimodal fusion learning model for identifying customer churn risk levels in financial service providers. Our multimodal approach integrates customer sentiments, financial literacy (FL) level, and financial behavioral data, enabling more accurate and bias-free churn prediction models. The proposed FL model utilizes a SMOGNCOREG supervised model to gauge customer FL levels from their financial data. The baseline churn model applies an ensemble artificial neural network and oversampling techniques to predict churn propensity in high-dimensional financial data. We also incorporate a speech emotion recognition model employing a pre-trained CNN-VGG16 to recognize customer emotions based on pitch, energy, and tone. To integrate these diverse features while retaining unique insights, we introduced late and hybrid fusion techniques that complementary boost coordinated multimodal co-learning. Robust metrics were utilized to evaluate the proposed multimodal fusion model and hence the approach’s validity, including mean average precision and macro-averaged F1 score. Our novel approach demonstrates a marked improvement in churn prediction, achieving a test accuracy of 91.2%, a Mean Average Precision (MAP) score of 66, and a Macro-Averaged F1 score of 54 through the proposed hybrid fusion learning technique compared with late fusion and baseline models. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates a positive correlation between negative emotions, low FL scores, and high-risk customers.
Melting experiments on peridotite to lowermost mantle conditions

Melting experiments on a pyrolitic mantle material were performed in a pressure range from 34 to 179 GPa based on laser‐heated diamond‐anvil cell (DAC) techniques. The textural and chemical characterizations of quenched samples were made by using field‐emission‐type electron microprobe (FE‐EPMA). Melts formed by 46 to 77 wt. % partial melting in this study were ultrabasic in composition and became more depleted in SiO2 and more enriched in FeO with increasing pressure. Melting textures indicate that the liquidus phase changed from ferropericlase to MgSiO3‐rich perovskite at least above 34 GPa and further to post‐perovskite. The first phase to melt (disappear) changed from CaSiO3 perovskite to (Mg,Fe)O ferropericlase between 68 and 82 GPa. The stability of ferropericlase above solidus temperature shrinks with increasing pressure (melting last below 34 GPa and first 82 GPa), resulting in higher (MgO + FeO)/SiO2 ratio in partial melt at higher pressure. Additionally, the Fe‐Mg distribution coefficients (KD) between perovskite/post‐perovskite and melt decreased considerably with increasing pressure, leading to strong Fe‐enrichment in partial melts. It supports dense partial melts in a deep lower mantle, which migrate downward to the core mantle boundary (CMB).
Attentional capture by motion onsets is spatially imprecise

Using straight translatory motion of a visual peripheral cue in the frontoparallel plane, and probing target discrimination at different positions along the cue's motion trajectory, we found that target orientation discrimination was slower for targets presented at or near the position of motion onset (4.2° off centre), relative to the onset of a static cue (Experiment 1), and relative to targets presented further along the motion trajectory (Experiments 1 and 2). Target discrimination was equally fast and accurate in the moving cue conditions relative to static cue conditions at positions further along the cue's motion trajectory (Experiment 1). Moreover, target orientation discrimination was not slowed at the same position, once this position was no longer the motion onset position (Experiment 3), and performance in a target colour-discrimination task was not slowed even at motion onset (Experiment 4). Finally, we found that the onset location of the motion cue was perceived as being shifted in the direction of the cue's motion (Experiment 5). These results indicate that attention cannot be as quickly or precisely shifted to the onset of a motion stimulus as to other positions on a stimulus’ motion trajectory.