Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Team Negotiations on Collaborative Value within Ashoka Fellows' Organizations in Africa

Purpose: The study sought to determine the influence of team negotiations on collaborative value within Ashoka Fellows' Organizations in Africa Methodology: The study applied pragmatism philosophy to offer several ways to bridge dichotomies in mixed methods approaches to social science. Explanatory sequential mixed-method research design consisting of two distinct phases, namely quantitative and qualitative, was adopted. Both qualitative and quantitative study methods were adopted. In the quantitative study, the target population constituted all the 154 Ashoka Fellows' Organizations working in 19 countries in Africa. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire administered online to the founders (Ashoka Fellows) or the Ashoka Fellows' Organizations' CEOs. One hundred responded by filling out the questionnaire, which translated to a 64.9% response rate. Additionally, qualitative data applied purposive sampling and selected six Ashoka regional team leaders in Africa for in-depth interviews. They all were available for the interviews translating to a 100% response rate. Data analysis techniques combined descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences and SmartPLS 3 software were used to analyze the collected data. Findings: The study results revealed that team negotiation significantly influences collaborative value within Ashoka Fellows’ Organizations in Africa. Team Negotiations have a significant influence on collaborative value with an R2 = 0.214, chi-square X2 (10, N=100) = 72.319, p<. 05, SRMR=0.090, Rms-theta=0.234, and NFI=0.773. The null hypothesis was rejected. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends that negotiating teams should ensure that they know as much as possible about the other side of the negotiation. The teams' perception is vital in the negotiating team's preparedness as they should be aware of what is necessary at every stage of the negotiating process. When negotiating, the focus should be on looking for alternative ways of dealing with the problem before finding a solution that satisfies all members. The evaluation of options during team negotiations should be objective. At large, the negotiating teams should ensure that all members feel comfortable with the solution to the problem raised before making the steps to implement the solution.
Socializing with Smoker and Social Smoking Behavior among Chinese Male Smokers with Low Nicotine Dependence: The Mediating Roles of Belief of Smoking Rationalization and Smoker Identity

Background: Previous studies have shown that socializing with other smokers is an essential trigger for social smoking among smokers with a low nicotine dependence. This study further explored the mediating effects of the belief of smoking rationalization and smoker identity on the relationship between socializing with smokers and social smoking behavior. Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted. A total of 696 low-nicotine-dependent smokers in China completed questionnaires that assessed socializing with smokers, social smoking behavior, smoker identity, and the belief of smoking rationalization. The mediating roles of the belief of smoking rationalization and smoker identity on the relationship between socializing with smokers and social smoking behavior were assessed by using SPSS 23 and AMOS 23. Results: The belief of smoking rationalization, smoker identity, socializing with smokers, and social smoking behavior were significantly and positively correlated with each other. In addition, this study found an independently mediated role for smoker identity in the relationship with smoker socialization and social smoking behavior, and a sequentially mediated role for smoking rationalization and smoker identity in this relationship. Conclusion: Reducing the belief of smoking rationalization and smoker identity may be conducive to reducing social smoking behavior for low-nicotine-dependent smokers when socializing with other smokers.
Uniqueness results for critical points of a non-local isoperimetric problem via curve shortening

Using area-preserving curve shortening flow, and a new inequality relating the potential generated by a set to its curvature, we study a non-local isoperimetric problem which arises in the study of di-block copolymer melts, also referred to as the Ohta-Kawasaki energy. We are able to show that the only connected critical point is the ball under mild assumptions on the boundary, in the small energy/mass regime. In particular this class includes all rectifiable, connected 1-manifolds in $\mathbb{R}^2$. We also classify the simply connected critical points on the torus in this regime, showing the only possibilities are the stripe pattern and the ball. In $\mathbb{R}^2$, this can be seen as a partial union of the well known result of Fraenkel \cite{Fraenkel} for uniqueness of critical points to the Newtonian Potential energy, and Alexandrov for the perimeter functional \cite{alexandrov}, however restricted to the plane. The proof of the result in $\mathbb{R}^2$ is analogous to the curve shortening result due to Gage \cite{Gage2}, but involving a non-local perimeter functional, as we show the energy of convex sets strictly decreases along the flow. Using the same techniques we obtain a stability result for minimizers in $\mathbb{R}^2$ and for the stripe pattern on the torus, the latter of which was recently shown to be the global minimizer to the energy when the non-locality is sufficiently small \cite{sternberg}.
THE NIRSPEC ULTRACOOL DWARF RADIAL VELOCITY SURVEY

We report the results of an infrared Doppler survey designed to detect brown dwarf and giant planetary companions to a magnitude-limited sample of ultracool dwarfs. Using the NIRSPEC spectrograph on the Keck II telescope, we obtained approximately 600 radial velocity (RV) measurements over a period of six years of a sample of 59 late-M and L dwarfs spanning spectral types M8/L0 to L6. A subsample of 46 of our targets has been observed on three or more epochs. We rely on telluric CH4 absorption features in Earth's atmosphere as a simultaneous wavelength reference and exploit the rich set of CO absorption features found in the K-band spectra of cool stars and brown dwarfs to measure RVs and projected rotational velocities. For a bright, slowly rotating M dwarf standard we demonstrate an RV precision of 50 m s−1 and for slowly rotating L dwarfs we achieve a typical RV precision of approximately 200 m s−1. This precision is sufficient for the detection of close-in giant planetary companions to mid-L dwarfs as well as more equal mass spectroscopic binary systems with small separations (a < 2 AU). We present an orbital solution for the subdwarf binary LSR1610 − 0040 as well as an improved solution for the M/T binary 2M0320 − 04. We compare the distribution of our observed values for the projected rotational velocities, Vsin i, to those in the literature and find that our sample contains examples of slowly rotating mid-L dwarfs, which have not been seen in other surveys. We also combine our RV measurements with distance estimates and proper motions from the literature and estimate the dispersion of the space velocities of the objects in our sample. Using a kinematic age estimate, we conclude that our UCDs have an age of 5.0+0.7−0.6 Gyr, similar to that of nearby sun-like stars. We simulate the efficiency with which we detect spectroscopic binaries and find that the rate of tight (a < 1 AU) binaries in our sample is 2.5+8.6−1.6%, consistent with recent estimates in the literature of a tight binary fraction of 3%–4%.
A LoRaWAN Multi-Technological Architecture for Construction Site Monitoring

It is necessary to ensure safety in terms of health and accidents through the real-time monitoring of the construction site environment and workers. This problem has become of great importance due to the economic and social implications. Therefore, a sensor-based approach has been found to be beneficial in Building Information Modeling (BIM). Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies are well-suited for the deployment of monitoring systems. A suitable technical solution for node communication in a WSN is Long Range (LoRa) modulation technology. In this study, an autonomous LoRa-based system for the monitoring of a construction site in Lungro, Calabria, Italy, is presented. The spatial monitoring of working personnel is achieved by employing a tracker device with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and a Global Positioning System (GPS) device. Accesses of personnel and gear to the site are registered using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags equipped with protective gear. Fixed-position solar-powered sensor nodes are also employed for structural monitoring, i.e., movement sensors are used to monitor the variation of scaffolding, building structures, and under-work housing inclinations. Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) gateways interface with the nodes and the internet for data exchange, enabling an Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm for the monitoring solution. A comprehensive overview of the workers and structural nodes, along with the RFID access management system and LoRaWAN gateway features, is provided in this article. A description of the web interface is also reported.
Quantum entanglement entropy and classical mutual information in long-range harmonic oscillators

We study different aspects of quantum von Neumann and R\'enyi entanglement entropy of one-dimensional long-range harmonic oscillators that can be described by well-defined nonlocal field theories. We show that the entanglement entropy of one interval with respect to the rest changes logarithmically with the number of oscillators inside the subsystem. This is true also in the presence of different boundary conditions. We show that the coefficients of the logarithms coming from different boundary conditions can be reduced to just two different universal coefficients. We also study the effect of the mass and temperature on the entanglement entropy of the system in different situations. The universality of our results is also confirmed by changing different parameters in the coupled harmonic oscillators. We also show that more general interactions coming from general singular Toeplitz matrices can be decomposed to our long-range harmonic oscillators. Despite the long-range nature of the couplings, we show that the area law is valid in two dimensions and the universal logarithmic terms appear if we consider subregions with sharp corners. Finally, we study analytically different aspects of the mutual information such as its logarithmic dependence to the subsystem, effect of mass, and influence of the boundary. We also generalize our results in this case to general singular Toeplitz matrices and higher dimensions.
A SUZAKU X-RAY STUDY OF THE PARTICLE ACCELERATION PROCESSES IN THE RELATIVISTIC JET OF BLAZAR Mrk 421

We report on the findings of a 364 ks observation of the BL LAC object Mrk 421 with the X-ray observatory Suzaku. The analysis in this paper uses fluxes and hardness ratios (HRs) in the broad energy range from 0.5 keV to 30 keV. During the course of the observation, the 0.5–30 keV flux decreased by a factor of ∼2 and was accompanied by several large flares occurring on timescales of a few hours. We find that fitting a broken power model to spectra from isolated epochs during the observation describes the data well. Different flares exhibit different spectral and HR evolutions. The cumulative observational evidence indicates that the particle acceleration mechanism in the Mrk 421 jet produces electron energy distributions with a modest range of spectral indices and maximum energies. We argue that the short-timescale X-ray spectral variability in the flares can be attributed mostly to intrinsic changes in the acceleration process, dominating other influences such as fluctuations in the Doppler beaming factor, or radiative cooling in or outside the acceleration zone.
High accuracy methods for eigenvalues of elliptic operators by nonconforming elements

In this paper, three high-accuracy methods for eigenvalues of second order elliptic operators are proposed by using the nonconforming Crouzeix-Raviart(CR for short) element and the nonconforming enriched Crouzeix-Raviart(ECR for short) element. They are based on a crucial full one order superconvergence of the first order mixed Raviart-Thomas(RT for short) element. The main ingredient of such a superconvergence analysis is to employ a discrete Helmholtz decomposition of the difference between the canonical interpolation and the finite element solution of the RT element. In particular, it allows for some vital cancellation between terms in one key sum of boundary terms. Consequently, a full one order superconvergence follows from a special relation between the CR element and the RT element, and the equivalence between the ECR element and the RT element for these two nonconforming elements. These superconvergence results improve those in literature from a half order to a full one order for the RT element, the CR element and the ECR element. Based on the aforementioned superconvergence of the RT element, asymptotic expansions of eigenvalues are established and employed to achieve high accuracy extrapolation methods for these two nonconforming elements. In contrast to a classic analysis in literature, the novelty herein is to use not only the canonical interpolations of these nonconforming elements but also that of the RT element to analyze such asymptotic expansions. Based on the superconvergence of these nonconforming elements, asymptotically exact a posteriori error estimators of eigenvalues are constructed and analyzed for them. Finally, two post-processing methods are proposed to improve accuracy of approximate eigenvalues by employing these a posteriori error estimators.Numerical tests are provided to justify and compare the performance of the aforementioned methods.
Failure of steady state thermodynamics in lattice gases under nonuniform drive

To be useful, steady state thermodynamics (SST) must be self-consistent and have predictive value. Although consistency of SST was recently verified for driven lattice gases under global weak exchange, I show here that it does not predict the coexisting densities in athermal stochastic lattice gases under a nonuniform drive. I consider the lattice gas with nearest-neighbor exclusion on the square lattice, with nearest-neighbor hopping (NNE dynamics), and with hopping to both nearest and next-nearest neighbors (NNE2 dynamics). Part of the system is subject to a drive $D$ that favors hopping along one direction, while the other part is free of the drive. Thus the steady state represents coexistence between two subsystems, one far from equilibrium and the other in equilibrium, which exchange particles along the interfaces. The dimensionless chemical potential $\mu^*(\rho,D) = \mu/k_B T$ for the lattice gas with density $\rho$ is readily determined in studies of a uniform system. Under the nonuniform drive, however, equating the chemical potentials of the coexisting subsystems does not yield the coexisting densities. The steady state chemical potential is, moreover, different in the coexisting bulk regions, contrary to the basic principles of thermodynamics. These results cast serious doubt on the predictive value of SST.
Gutzwiller renormalization group

We develop a variational scheme called the “Gutzwiller renormalization group” (GRG), which enables us to calculate the ground state of Anderson impurity models (AIM) with arbitrary numerical precision. Our method exploits the low-entanglement property of the ground state of local Hamiltonians in combination with the framework of the Gutzwiller wave function and indicates that the ground state of the AIM has a very simple structure, which can be represented very accurately in terms of a surprisingly small number of variational parameters. Furthermore, we perform benchmark calculations of the single-band AIM that validate our theory and suggest that the GRG might enable us to study complex systems beyond the reach of the other methods presently available and pave the way to interesting generalizations, e.g., to nonequilibrium transport in nanostructures.
Supersoft X-Ray Sources Identified with Be Binaries in the Magellanic Clouds

We investigated four luminous supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in the Magellanic Clouds suspected to have optical counterparts of Be spectral type. If the origin of the X-rays is in a very hot atmosphere heated by hydrogen burning in accreted envelopes of white dwarfs (WDs), like in the majority of SSSs, these objects are close binaries with very massive WD primaries. Using the South African Large Telescope, we obtained the first optical spectra of the proposed optical counterparts of two candidate Be stars associated with SUZAKU J0105–72 and XMMU J010147.5–715550, respectively, a transient and a recurrent SSS, and confirmed the proposed Be classification and Small Magellanic Cloud membership. We also obtained new optical spectra of two other Be stars proposed as optical counterparts of the transient SSS XMMU J052016.0–692505 and MAXI J0158–744. The optical spectra with double-peaked emission-line profiles are typical of Be stars and present characteristics similar to many high-mass X-ray binaries with excretion disks truncated by the tidal interaction with a compact object. The presence of a massive WD that sporadically ignites nuclear burning, accreting only at certain orbital or evolutionary phases, explains the supersoft X-ray flares. We measured equivalent widths and distances between line peaks and investigated the variability of the prominent emission-line profiles. The excretion disks seem to be small in size and are likely to be differentially rotating. We discuss possible future observations and the relevance of these objects as a new class of SN Ia progenitors.
Stress Trajectory Guided Structural Design and Topology Optimization

Density-based topology optimization using global and local volume constraints is a key technique to automatically design lightweight structures. It is known that stiffness optimal structures comprise spatially varying geometric patterns that span multiple length scales. However, both variants of topology optimization have challenges to efficiently converge to such a structural layout. In this paper, we investigate material layouts that are generated from stress trajectories, i.e., to compile a globally consistent structure by tracing the stress trajectories from finite element simulation of the solid design domain under external loads. This is particularly appealing from a computational perspective, since it avoids iterative optimization that involves finite element analysis on fine meshes. By regularizing the thickness of each trajectory using derived strain energy measures along them, stiff structural layouts can be generated in a highly efficient way. We then shed light on the use of the resulting structures as initial density fields in density-based topology optimization, i.e., to generate an initial density field that is then further optimized via topology optimization. We demonstrate that by using a stress trajectory guided density initialization in lieu of a uniform density field, convergence issues in density-based topology optimization can be significantly relaxed at comparable stiffness of the resulting structural layouts.
A physical model for z∼ 2 dust-obscured galaxies

We present a physical model for the origin of z ∼ 2 dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs), a class of high-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) selected at 24 μm which are particularly optically faint (F24 μm/FR > 1000). By combining N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations of high-redshift galaxy evolution with 3D polychromatic dust radiative transfer models, we find that luminous DOGs (with F24 0.3 mJy at z ∼ 2) are well modelled as extreme gas-rich mergers in massive (∼5 × 10 12 -10 13 M� ) haloes, with elevated star formation rates (SFR; ∼500-1000 Myr −1 ) and/or significant active galactic nuclei (AGN) growth ( u MBH 0. 5Myr −1 ), whereas less luminous DOGs are more diverse in nature. At final coalescence, merger-driven DOGs transition from being starburst dominated to AGN dominated, evolving from a 'bump' to a power-law (PL) shaped mid-IR (Infrared Array Camera, IRAC) spectral energy distribution (SED). After the DOG phase, the galaxy settles back to exhibiting a 'bump' SED with bluer colours and lower SFRs. While canonically PL galaxies are associated with being AGN dominated, we find that the PL mid-IR SED can owe both to direct AGN contribution and to a heavily dust obscured stellar bump at times that the galaxy is starburst dominated. Thus, PL galaxies can be either starburst or AGN dominated. Less luminous DOGs can be well-represented either by mergers or by massive (Mbaryon ≈ 5 × 10 11 M� ) secularly evolving gas-rich disc galaxies (with SFR 50 Myr −1 ). By utilizing similar models as those employed in the submillimetre galaxy (SMG) formation study of Narayanan et al., we investigate the connection between DOGs and SMGs. We find that the most heavily star-forming merger-driven DOGs can be selected as submillimetre galaxies, while both merger-driven and secularly evolving DOGs typically satisfy the BzK selection criteria. The model SEDs from the simulated galaxies match observed data reasonably well, though Mrk 231 and Arp 220 templates provide worse matches. Our models provide testable predictions of the physical masses, dust temperatures, CO linewidths and location on the MBH-Mbulge relation of DOGs. Finally, we provide public SED templates derived from these
Electronic structures and elastic properties of monolayer and bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides MX2 (M = Mo, W; X = O, S, Se, Te): A comparative first-principles study

First-principle calculations with different exchange-correlation functionals, including LDA, PBE, and vdW-DF functional in the form of optB88-vdW, have been performed to investigate the electronic and elastic properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with the formula of MX2(M = Mo, W; X = O, S, Se, Te) in both monolayer and bilayer structures. The calculated band structures show a direct band gap for monolayer TMDCs at the K point except for MoO2 and WO2. When the monolayers are stacked into a bilayer, the reduced indirect band gaps are found except for bilayer WTe2, in which the direct gap is still present at the K point. The calculated in-plane Young moduli are comparable to that of graphene, which promises possible application of TMDCs in future flexible and stretchable electronic devices. We also evaluated the performance of different functionals including LDA, PBE, and optB88-vdW in describing elastic moduli of TMDCs and found that LDA seems to be the most qualified method. Moreover, our calculations suggest that the Young moduli for bilayers are insensitive to stacking orders and the mechanical coupling between monolayers seems to be negligible.