Popular Members Research Articles

PoxiPred: An Artificial-Intelligence-Based Method for the Prediction of Potential Antigens and Epitopes to Accelerate Vaccine Development Efforts against Poxviruses.

Poxviridae is a family of large, complex, enveloped, and double-stranded DNA viruses. The members of this family are ubiquitous and well known to cause contagious diseases in humans and other types of animals as well. Taxonomically, the poxviridae family is classified into two subfamilies, namely Chordopoxvirinae (affecting vertebrates) and Entomopoxvirinae (affecting insects). The members of the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily are further divided into 18 genera based on the genome architecture and evolutionary relationship. Of these 18 genera, four genera, namely Molluscipoxvirus, Orthopoxvirus, Parapoxvirus, and Yatapoxvirus, are known for infecting humans. Some of the popular members of poxviridae are variola virus, vaccine virus, Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), cowpox, etc. There is still a pressing demand for the development of effective vaccines against poxviruses. Integrated immunoinformatics and artificial-intelligence (AI)-based methods have emerged as important approaches to design multi-epitope vaccines against contagious emerging infectious diseases. Despite significant progress in immunoinformatics and AI-based techniques, limited methods are available to predict the epitopes. In this study, we have proposed a unique method to predict the potential antigens and T-cell epitopes for multiple poxviruses. With PoxiPred, we developed an AI-based tool that was trained and tested with the antigens and epitopes of poxviruses. Our tool was able to locate 3191 antigen proteins from 25 distinct poxviruses. From these antigenic proteins, PoxiPred redundantly located up to five epitopes per protein, resulting in 16,817 potential T-cell epitopes which were mostly (i.e., 92%) predicted as being reactive to CD8+ T-cells. PoxiPred is able to, on a single run, identify antigens and T-cell epitopes for poxviruses with one single input, i.e., the proteome file of any poxvirus.

Church advertising and the marketization of religious hegemony

This paper contributes to the research on the symbiotic relationship between religion and the market by examining the nature and implications of the marketization of religion in a contemporary Christendom in which religion and the market are hegemonic. Based on our analysis of 3741 church advertisements in Ghana over a 6-year period, we conceptualize three symbiotic relationships that coexist between the market and religion—commensalism, mutualism, and competition. We argue that these symbiotic relationships mirror how religion hegemonizes popular imagination and members’ consumption through marketization in contemporary Christendom. This study extends our understanding of the dialectical relationship between religion and the market by showing that religion can use marketization to perpetuate its hegemony within and beyond the market.

Overview of Bullying

The term “bullying” refers to a specific form of aggressive behavior in which one person or a group of people frequently targets a weaker person for physical harm, social exclusion, or both. Why do bullies act the way they do? Some researchers have hypothesised that bullies seek to establish themselves as the most popular and influential members of their peer group. Aiming to improve one’s social standing is intrinsically linked to being part of a group, despite being an individual motivation. The term “status” refers to a person’s “relative standing in the peer hierarchy,” or “the result of an evaluation of attributes that produces differences in respect and prominence.” The current study focuses on the concept of bullying and sheds light on numerous facts about this behavior, including why people engage in bullying, why bullying continues, and how victims cope in various peer groups.

Mechanical Properties of Cubene Crystals.

The fullerene family, whose most popular members are the spherical C and C molecules, has recently added a new member, the cube-shaped carbon molecule C called a cubene. A molecular crystal based on fullerenes is called fullerite. In this work, based on relaxational molecular dynamics, two fullerites based on cubenes are described for the first time, one of which belongs to the cubic system, and the other to the triclinic system. Potential energy per atom, elastic constants, and mechanical stress components are calculated as functions of lattice strain. It has been established that the cubic cubene crystal is metastable, while the triclinic crystal is presumably the crystalline phase in the ground state (the potential energies per atom for these two structures are −0.0452 and −0.0480 eV, respectively).The cubic phase has a lower density than the monoclinic one (volumes per cubene are 101 and 97.7 Å). The elastic constants for the monoclinic phase are approximately 4% higher than those for the cubic phase. The presented results are the first step in studying the physical and mechanical properties of C fullerite, which may have potential for hydrogen storage and other applications. In the future, the influence of temperature on the properties of cubenes will be analyzed.

Royally represented or royally shafted? Effect of positive and negative captions and ideological beliefs on readers’ evaluations of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle

We conducted a randomized controlled experiment to investigate the role of descriptive captions (positively and negatively worded) and ideological beliefs (Right Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation) on viewers’ evaluations of two popular British Royal family members namely Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. Participants included 300 undergraduate students from Dunedin, New Zealand who were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: (1) Pro-Kate, (2) Anti-Kate, (3) Pro-Meghan or (4) AntiMeghan captions accompanying the parallel images of these Royal members. We also included several distractor variables about other Royal family members and traditions. Outcomes were recorded as evaluations of six royal members (Charles, Diana, William, Harry, Kate, and Meghan). We found no significant effect of caption manipulation on outcome evaluations of Meghan and Kate. However, social dominance negatively correlated with Meghan and Harry whereas authoritarianism positively correlated with ratings of Charles. Our results indicate that a one-off exposure to biased media regarding celebrities may not significantly alter audience’s evaluations of them, but ideological beliefs may influence this process, nonetheless.

New perspectives on the Gini and Bonferroni indices of inequality

This paper rigorously demonstrates that for any unequal income distribution, the well-known Gini index of inequality is bounded above by the recently revived Bonferroni inequality index. The bound is exactly attained if and only if out of n incomes in the society, n − 1 poor incomes are identical. The boundedness theorem is shown to possess a duality-type inequality implication. These two inequality metrics, two popular members of a general class of inequality indices generated by Aaberge’s (J Econ Inequal 5:305–322, 2007) ‘scaled conditional mean curve’, may lead to different directional rankings of alternative income distributions because of some important differences between them. We then explicitly examine their sensitivity to Weymark’s (Math Soc Sci 1:409–430, 1981) ‘comonotonic additivity’ postulate.

Immigration as a Divisive Topic: Clusters and Content Diffusion in the Italian Twitter Debate

In this work, we apply network science to analyse almost 6 M tweets about the debate around immigration in Italy, collected between 2018 and 2019, when many related events captured media outlets’ attention. Our aim was to better understand the dynamics underlying the interactions on social media on such a delicate and divisive topic, which are the actors that are leading the discussion, and whose messages have the highest chance to reach out the majority of the accounts that are following the debate. The debate on Twitter is represented with networks; we provide a characterisation of the main clusters by looking at the highest in-degree nodes in each one and by analysing the text of the tweets of all the users. We find a strongly segregated network which shows an explicit interplay with the Italian political and social landscape, that however seems to be disconnected from the actual geographical distribution and relocation of migrants. In addition, quite surprisingly, the influencers and political leaders that apparently lead the debate, do not necessarily belong to the clusters that include the majority of nodes: we find evidence of the existence of a ‘silent majority’ that is more connected to accounts who expose a more positive stance toward migrants, while leaders whose stance is negative attract apparently more attention. Finally, we see that the community structure clearly affects the diffusion of content (URLs) by identifying the presence of both local and global trends of diffusion, and that communities tend to display segregation regardless of their political and cultural background. In particular, we observe that messages that spread widely in the two largest clusters, whose most popular members are also notoriously at the opposite sides of the political spectrum, have a very low chance to get visibility into other clusters.

Determination of functional, textural and colour properties of market Mozzarella cheese

Mozzarella cheese is one of the most popular members of pasta-filata family cheeses that originated in Italy. There is increasing demand of Mozzarella cheese for preparation of varieties of food products. The various properties such as functional, textural and colour properties of Mozzarella cheese play a vital role in its marketing and consumer acceptance. In the present study, these properties of four brands of market Mozzarella cheese were determined. The stretchability, flowability and meltability of market Mozzarella cheese samples were found statistically significantly different (p

Stiffness Prediction of Connections between CHS Tubes and Externally Welded I-Beams: FE Analyses and Analytical Study.

Double-tee profiles are the most popular members in Europe and the USA for steel structures. However, more efficient cross-sections, such as circular hollow sections (CHSs), could be adopted, since they can provide higher aesthetic, economic and mechanical benefits, with the only drawback of more complex connections such as in the case of I-beams welded to the external surface of circular hollow profiles. Based on the ring model theory, developed by Togo, a rule to design the flexural resistance of such a connection has been included in the Eurocode 3 part 1.8, while no formulations are provided to predict the corresponding initial stiffness. The present work aims at filling this knowledge gap, adopting an approach based on experimental, numerical and analytical work. A monotonic and a cyclic test have been performed on two beam-to-column sub-assemblies; the experimental outcomes have been exploited to validate a finite element (FE) model developed in Abaqus and used to numerically perform the monotonic loading simulations of 30 joints. Afterwards, starting from the extracted information about stiffness, a regression analysis was carried out to define the coefficient of a design equation analytically derived applying the component method approach. The regression analysis is characterized by a coefficient of variation equal to 0.19.

A Review on Food Uses and the Prospect of Egusi Melon for Biodiesel Production

Melons belong to the Cucurbitaceae family and are grown in the tropical and temperate regions of the world. With numerous identified varieties, melons are regarded as one of the most economically important vegetable crops. ‘Egusi’ melon, one of the most popular members of the melon family with diverse species, has formed a significant part of the diet of many Africans and Asians. Egusi melon seed kernels are a good source of edible oil (31–59%), protein (19–37%), fibre (3–4%), and carbohydrate (8–20%). The objectives of this review are to highlight the food uses of egusi melon and its prospect for biodiesel production. Firstly, an introduction to egusi melon is presented, describing its origins, varieties, cultivation and yield, followed by an extensive review of the nutritional composition, oil extraction methods and analysis and food uses of egusi. Then, the engineering properties of egusi fruits, seeds and kernels and the energy utilisation of its biomass are shown. This review also covers the use of egusi seed kernel oil for biodiesel production, the rheological properties of egusi biodiesel, its engine performance, emission characteristics and the conformity of the biodiesel to standard specifications. Finally, future challenges and research directions are presented. This paper will prove to be a viable resource for the food, energy and automobile industries, as well as the scientific community.

Limit Theory for Forecasts of Extreme Distortion Risk Measures and Expectiles

Abstract We develop central limit theory for tail risk forecasts in general location–scale models. We do so for a wide range of risk measures, viz. distortion risk measures (DRMs) and expectiles. Two popular members of the class of DRMs are the Value-at-Risk and the Expected Shortfall. The forecasts we consider are motivated by a Pareto-type tail assumption for the innovations and allow for extrapolation beyond the range of available observations. Simulations reveal adequate coverage of the forecast intervals derived from the limit theory. An empirical application demonstrates that our estimators outperform nonparametric alternatives when forecasting extreme risk in sufficiently large samples.

Structure behind principles: social selection mechanisms in corporate governance networks

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to show that social relations in a corporate governance platform between members of supervisory boards and between members of supervisory and executive board tiers can serve as an alternative viewpoint for understanding mechanisms of social selection in corporate governance networks. The study shows that through the lenses of social network analysis, it is possible to identify and understand how the process of corporate governance member selection unfolds within companies and how that selection process may have been potentially influenced by the cross-board relations, such as interlocking directorships.Design/methodology/approachTo estimate network parameters and attribute effects of network tie emergence, this study has used exponential random graph models (ERGMs) on corporate governance data of Danish publicly listed companies. Econometric models are applied to estimate parameter statistics which serve further to explain tendencies of tie emergence.FindingsThe results of this study reveal that the process of selection of both supervisory boards and executive directors is interdependent. Also, the study showed that board members are more likely to select popular supervisory board members and top managers who have their expertise gained through multiple companies affiliated with multiple industries. However, these conditions for CEO selection apply only to the extent to which they have their experience gained from multiple companies but not multiple industries.Originality/valueOn one hand, this study demonstrates that being a dynamic practitioner who is exposed to diverse corporate environments by being affiliated with different companies belonging to different industries generally increases practitioners visibility in the corporate governance network, and therefore their attractiveness to boards of directors. On the other hand, the results show that the research on board assemblage, nowadays, should be rather observed through the methodology of social network analysis as the method gives an opportunity to understand structures through relations, from which the executive tier should not be exempted as well.

Parameter estimation of Gumbel distribution using Quasi-Newton Broyden Fletcher Goldfarb Shanno (BFGS) method and its application on data of daily precipitation in Purworejo regency

Extreme data on an observation can occur due to rare events in the observation, and therefore they should be examined. One of methods to collect extreme data is block maxima. The distribution of extreme datasets collected using block maxima method is called extreme value distribution. Gumbel distribution is defined as extreme value distribution with two parameters. It is difficult to determine exact values in the parameter estimation of Gumbel distribution using maximum likelihood (ML) method. Therefore, the present research seeks to estimate the parameters using approximate solution of BFGS quasi-Newton method. The BFGS method is one of the most popular members of quasi Newton method. The purpose of this research was to determine the parameter estimation of Gumbel distribution with quasi Newton BFGS method. The quasi Newton BFGS method is a numerical method used for nonlinear function optimization without constraint so that the method can be used for parameter estimation from Gumbel distribution whose distribution function is in the form of exponential double function. The parameter estimation of the Gumbel distribution by numerical approach using the quasi Newton BFGS method is done by calculating the parameter values that make the distribution function maximum. This research is a theory research and application by studying several journals and textbooks. The results of this research we obtained the quasi Newton BFGS algorithm and estimation of Gumbel distribution parameters. Such method was applied to data of daily precipitation in Purworejo regency for the purpose of estimating the distribution parameters. The parameter estimation using ML and the quasi-Newton BFGS results in and the Gumbel distribution for period I, and and for period II, and . This indicates that high intensity and range of precipitation have decreased.

MEMBANGUN WEBSITE SEBAGAI MEDIA RESERVASI OBJECT WISATA MENGGUNAKAN METODE APRORI

With the growing of information technology and internet. The Lombok Travel is one of the few journeys in the development of the system. Currently, there are also manual transactions. In addition, the packages for tourist destinations are usually set based on the packages that have been made the trip, but also the ordering system that is online in order for members in ordering transactions. Aprioriic method to display the most popular tour packages or tour packages most in the message by previous customers. For the application of this method will be made based website system. The results of this study are Applications that use Apriori Method to display the most popular tour packages, tour packages, travel destinations, price packages, package messages and members can directly place an order package on a system that can be accessed online.

Attention, attention: your most valuable scientific assets are under attack: How digital contraptions and online accounts are contributing to academic attention deficit disorder.

You have no idea how hard it was for me to get these words onto this page. No, I do not have a terrible bout of writer's block. There is not a pedantic editor standing in my way. And it is not because I don't have the time to prod at my wireless keyboard. I cannot even blame the distraction of my 3‐month‐old son who has decided that the only options in life are to scream or be bounced. Believe it or not, the fault lies entirely with my thumb—my right thumb, to be exact. This is the digit that I use to unlock my iPhone, to click on my email app, to scroll through my Twitter feed, and to text. It is my thumb that gets snared by online clickbait, leading me down the rabbit hole of Internet oblivion. It is this undisciplined and calloused thumb of mine that is responsible for my shrinking attention span, lack of productivity, and inability to sit down and write more than 140 characters. > It is this undisciplined and calloused thumb of mine that is responsible for my shrinking attention span, lack of productivity, and inability to sit down and write more than 140 characters. ### The “online” university Laugh at me all you want, but have you spent much time on a university campus lately? Check out an undergraduate classroom, visit the library, hit up the gym, peek in on a research laboratory, or stop by a faculty meeting and you will see that I am not the only one who would be well served by a thumb amputation. Sometimes it seems like all of academia has lost the ability to look someone in the eyes and listen for more than five minutes at a stretch without getting sucked back into the void of their digital …

WYBÓR ŚRODKA KOMUNIKACJI W OPINII MIESZKAŃCÓW LUBELSZCZYZNY

WYBÓR ŚRODKA KOMUNIKACJI W OPINII MIESZKAŃCÓW LUBELSZCZYZNY

Controlled growth of MAPbBr3 single crystal: understanding the growth morphologies of vicinal hillocks on (100) facet to form perfect cubes

Organic and inorganic hybrid perovskites have attracted significant attentions due to their impressive optoelectronic properties. MAPbBr3, one of the most popular members in MAPbX3 (MA = methyl ammonium and X = Cl, Br, I) family, is considered as new generation optoelectronic materials, especially in the field of solar cells. Compared to polycrystalline films, MAPbBr3 single crystal is deemed more ideal for optoelectronic device because of fewer grain boundaries. To realize a controlled crystal growth, a thorough understanding of its growth mechanism, especially the role of surface structures played in growth kinetics, is of paramount importance. In this paper, hillocks on (100) facet of MAPbBr3 crystal were observed using atomic force microscopy when grown from N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution. The results revealed that the growth of (100) facet was controlled by 2D nucleation at low concentration, which derived plenty of elementary steps whose height was about 0.59 nm, equivalent to one unit cell. Then the growth transferred to step flow model along [011] direction. Step flow ceased when encountering holes on the terraces. The optical morphologies validated that cubic plates were prone to growing along [011] directions, which were in a layer-by-layer model. Moreover, the temperature reverse solubility of MAPbBr3 in DMF solution was measured. In terms of the solubility and growth mechanism of MAPbBr3, a series of MAPbBr3 single crystals were successfully grown from thin cubic plates to thick and perfect cubes via temperature controlling rising method ultimately.

Scaling Effects of the Synthesis of Lithium- and Manganese-Rich Cathode Materials Via Carbonate Co-Precipitation

Li-rich cathode materials with the general formula Li1+x M 1-x O2 (M = Mn, Ni, Co; x <= 0.2) are very promising cathode materials for lithium ion batteries, particularly due to their significantly higher specific capacity (>200 mAh g-1) compared to state of the art cathode materials.[1] Popular members of the Li-rich family, like Li1.2Mn0.56Ni0.16Co0.08O2 [2] and the Co-free compound Li1.2Mn0.6Ni0.2O2 have already been structurally and electrochemically investigated, but mostly on laboratory scale. Thus, in order to obtain larger amounts of high-quality Li-rich cathode materials, the upscaling effects of the established co-precipitation synthesis route were thoroughly investigated in this work, specifically for the above mentioned stoichiometries. With regard to the upscaling process, the impact of the synthesis parameters (e.g. stirring speed and type, pH value, reaction time) on the resulting morphology of the precursor as well as that of the final oxide and consequently, its electrochemical performance was analyzed. For each material three differently sized batches were synthesized, one in a laboratory scale of 4 g and two larger batches up to 75 g. For the Co-free materials a significant upscaling effect was observed (see Fig. 1): The faster stirring of the larger batches lead to larger, spherically shaped precursor particles. However, these large precursor particles form more inhomogeneous target materials upon calcination, which consequently resulted in an inferior electrochemical performance. The more homogeneous cathode particles of the small batches show very promising electrochemical properties with regard to both rate capability and capacity retention.

Interethnic dating preferences of Roma and non-Roma secondary school students

ABSTRACTIntegrated schooling is known to induce interethnic friendship relations; however, it also creates the opportunity of interethnic dating. Interethnic personal relationships or long-term exposure decreases ethnic prejudice, thus it is proposed that willingness to date between ethnic groups may also increase. The question arises, whether in the school context exposure is enough for this mechanism to emerge, or personal contact is necessary. It must also be taken into account that romantic relationships are embedded in status relations within schools. Based on a ‘social exchange’ mechanism, it is assumed that the less popular members of the majority groups are those who are more willing to form interethnic dating relations. To address the above questions empirically, the data of 1213 Hungarian 9th grade students in 43 classes were analysed. Preferences of Roma and non-Roma students were measured by dyadic attribution of physical attractiveness and nominations of willingness to date. Results of multilevel p2 models suggest that mixed groups are not sufficient, but personal contacts are necessary to decrease same-ethnicity preferences in dating. An additional tendency is salient: among majority students, those who are isolated from the friendship networks are the ones who are more willing to date members of the minority group.

Bend it Like FIFA: Corruption On and Off the Pitch

Throughout 2015, many of FIFA’s (Federation Internationale de Football Association) top executives were arrested, facing charges of bribery, fraud, and money laundering. On December 21, 2015, FIFA’s own Ethics Committee decided to ban its long-serving president, Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, for eight years. FIFA has long been plagued by allegations of bribery, but has, until recently, been able to get around them, like a well-curved free-kick shot. Being organized as a not-for-profit organization while generating large revenues, FIFA has enjoyed the services of highly paid executives and employees. For-profit firms are regulated largely through the market process, with stockholders having strong incentives to maintain close oversight and demanding transparency of transactions, and being subject to takeover bids. Not-for-profit organizations receive far less oversight, but are subject to regulation from both the country where they are incorporated and the country where they operate. As a monopolist in rule-making and holding a world championship tournament for the world’s most popular sport, FIFA executives and board members are in a position to demand payoffs and/or can punish its adversaries with its venue selection or by banning national teams from tournament participation.