Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AMÉLIORATION DE LA RÉSISTANCE DES MURS DE PARAPET EN MAÇONNERIE AUX IMPACTS IMPROVING THE IMPACT RESISANCE OF MASONRY PARAPET WALLS

Virtually all masonry arch bridges contain masonry parapets and, because of the possibility that these may be extensively damaged following a vehicle impact, it is often reported that these give engineers more cause for concern than the arch barrel itself. Over the past decade research has been carried out to gain an understanding of the fundamental modes of resistance of unreinforced masonry parapets when subjected to vehicle impacts. A second phase of research work has recently commenced. This is concerned with the development of suitable methods to strengthen existing walls and also with the development of effective new construction techniques. In this paper the activities currently underway are described. Additionally, results from a number of laboratory impact tests on bed-joint reinforced parapet walls are briefly described.
Moral hazard and credit screening: An experiment

In credit contracting under asymmetric information, lenders formulate sets of incentive compatible contracts that consider collateral and interest rates simultaneously as a mechanism to reveal the borrower's ex ante risk level. In this paper, we design an experiment to test how moral hazard due to ex ante asymmetric information affects the screening models by Bester (1985, 1987). Our experimental results confirm that by appropriately combining collateral with the interest rate, borrowers with different risk levels are separated, even in moral hazard settings.
Abnormal Mitochondrial L-Arginine Transport Contributes to the Pathogenesis of Heart Failure and Rexoygenation Injury

Background Impaired mitochondrial function is fundamental feature of heart failure (HF) and myocardial ischemia. In addition to the effects of heightened oxidative stress, altered nitric oxide (NO) metabolism, generated by a mitochondrial NO synthase, has also been proposed to impact upon mitochondrial function. However, the mechanism responsible for arginine transport into mitochondria and the effect of HF on such a process is unknown. We therefore aimed to characterize mitochondrial L-arginine transport and to investigate the hypothesis that impaired mitochondrial L-arginine transport plays a key role in the pathogenesis of heart failure and myocardial injury. Methods and Results In mitochondria isolated from failing hearts (sheep rapid pacing model and mouse Mst1 transgenic model) we demonstrated a marked reduction in L-arginine uptake (p<0.05 and p<0.01 respectively) and expression of the principal L-arginine transporter, CAT-1 (p<0.001, p<0.01) compared to controls. This was accompanied by significantly lower NO production and higher 3-nitrotyrosine levels (both p<0.05). The role of mitochondrial L-arginine transport in modulating cardiac stress responses was examined in cardiomyocytes with mitochondrial specific overexpression of CAT-1 (mtCAT1) exposed to hypoxia-reoxygenation stress. mtCAT1 cardiomyocytes had significantly improved mitochondrial membrane potential, respiration and ATP turnover together with significantly decreased reactive oxygen species production and cell death following mitochondrial stress. Conclusion These data provide new insights into the role of L-arginine transport in mitochondrial biology and cardiovascular disease. Augmentation of mitochondrial L-arginine availability may be a novel therapeutic strategy for myocardial disorders involving mitochondrial stress such as heart failure and reperfusion injury.
Network Firewall Policy Tries

Network firewalls remain the forefront defense for most computer systems. These critical devices filter traffic by comparing arriving packets to a list of rules, or security policy, in a sequential manner. Unfortunately packet filtering in this fashion can result in significant traffic delays, which is problematic for applications that require strict Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. Furthermore, as network speeds and capacities continue to increase, the processing time associated with filtering only compounds these delays. Given this demanding environment, new methods are needed to increase network firewall performance. This paper introduces a new technique for representing a security policy in software that maintains policy integrity and provides more efficient processing. The policy is represented as an n-ary retrieval tree, also referred to as a trie. This structure is able to quickly reach decisions based on the security policy by simultaneously eliminating multiple rules with few comparisons. As a result, the worst case processing requirement for the policy trie is a fraction compared a list representation, which only consider rules individually (1/5 the processing for TCP/IP networks). Furthermore unlike other representations, the n-ary trie developed in this paper is proven to maintain policy integrity. The creation of policy trie structures is discussed in detail and their performance benefits are proven theoretically and validated empirically.
Reversal of Myoblast Aging by Tocotrienol Rich Fraction Posttreatment

Skeletal muscle satellite cells are heavily involved in the regeneration of skeletal muscle in response to the aging-related deterioration of the skeletal muscle mass, strength, and regenerative capacity, termed as sarcopenia. This study focused on the effect of tocotrienol rich fraction (TRF) on regenerative capacity of myoblasts in stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS). The myoblasts was grouped as young control, SIPS-induced, TRF control, TRF pretreatment, and TRF posttreatment. Optimum dose of TRF, morphological observation, activity of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-galactosidase), and cell proliferation were determined. 50 μg/mL TRF treatment exhibited the highest cell proliferation capacity. SIPS-induced myoblasts exhibit large flattened cells and prominent intermediate filaments (senescent-like morphology). The activity of SA-β-galactosidase was significantly increased, but the proliferation capacity was significantly reduced as compared to young control. The activity of SA-β-galactosidase was significantly reduced and cell proliferation was significantly increased in the posttreatment group whereas there was no significant difference in SA-β-galactosidase activity and proliferation capacity of pretreatment group as compared to SIPS-induced myoblasts. Based on the data, we hypothesized that TRF may reverse the myoblasts aging through replenishing the regenerative capacity of the cells. However, further investigation on the mechanism of TRF in reversing the myoblast aging is needed.
CROSSING EFFICIENCY STUDIES IN HYBRID TEA ROSE VARIETIES

India has an age old tradition of growing flowers for various aspects. Introduction of green house technology for cultivation of cut flowers in India in the recent past years has changed the scenario of Indian floriculture. Huge capital investment has been made by the growers for the production of cut flowers meant to be 100 per cent export oriented. Among the cut flowers grown in India primarily for export, rose tops the area grown under protected conditions and there exists a fierce competition in the international flower market (Kumar et al., 2012 and Makwana et al., 2015). Hence, there is a need to develop good hybrids/ varieties by hybridization programme in rose. Rose breeding programmes in the twentieth century focused mainly on introduction of new flower colours, thornless stems, higher production and a good post-harvest performance. Yet, the fertility of cut roses, typically tetraploid (2n=2x=28) hybrid tea roses, is frequently reduced probably due to their interspecific origin but also due to intensive inbreeding (Debeneret al.,2000). To avoid the risk of very low seed production, breeders hybridise using high pollen loads of a limited number of male parents with the desired characteristics (Zlesak, 2006), chosen for their known fertility (ie., number of seeds produced per hybridization). Pollen donors and female parents represent an economic risk for a breeding programme, as their influence on seed production is unknown. However, generating wider populations in terms of number of seedlings is only one of the aspects that contribute to the overall efficiency of a breeding programme. The successful introduction of new parents into a breeding programme depends on its potential to transmit the desired traits to the offspring. It may be more efficient in some cases to choose a parent with moderate fertility if it produces offspring with a higher rate of advanced selections and ultimately, cultivars. In any case, recognizing parameters related to fertility could increase the overall efficiency of a breeding programme (Luca et al., 2011, Lakhotia et al., 2012, Peng Hua et al., 2012 and Ahmadi et al., 2013). Several studies concerning pollen quality in vitro (germination and pollen tube elongation) or in vivo (considering the hip set or the mean number of seeds per hip) were carried out with the aim of improving sexual reproduction of roses (Zlesaket al., 2007, Luca et al., 2011, Lakhotia et al., 2012, Peng Hua et al., 2012 and Ahmadi et al., 2013). No studies carried out on roses have focused on the screening of breeding databases to aid the individuation of fertility marker characters for identifying the suitable pollen and female parent for hybridization (Luca et al., 2011). Keeping in view the above facts the present study was undertaken to study the pollen and stigma characteristics and correlating the data with hybridization characteristics.
Simulation supported analysis of the effect of SiNx interlayers in AlGaN on the dislocation density reduction

SiNx interlayers can act as anti-surfactants and drastically reduce the dislocation density in pure GaN layers. In our work we could observe a very efficient dislocation annihilation of the a-type threading dislocations (TD) at a fractional SiNx monolayer even in AlxGa1? xN layers with relatively high Al content of x=0.2, grown on c-plane sapphire by MOVPE. The investigations were focused on the effect of the SiNx interlayer on the dislocation density reduction of the a-type TDs. Weak-beam dark-field (WBDF) and high-resolution (HR) TEM analyses directly at the SiNx interface indicate that the most frequently occurring effect for the reduction of the a-type TDs is the conversion of an a-type TD into an a-type basal dislocation due to lateral overgrowth of SiNx by AlGaN. To confirm this effect, an appropriate dislocation model was developed for the a-type TD in AlGaN and its bending due to the SiNx nano-mask. Corresponding image calculations were performed and compared with the experiments.
Estimating the Services Sector Impact on Economic Growth of Bangladesh: An Econometric Investigation

This study attempts to examine the contribution of the service related sector in the economic growth of Bangladesh during the period of 1973-2017. We used the Gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of economic growth for Bangladesh. Sub-sectors of service-related sector have been used as explanatory variables along with some control variables. In this study, we apply various econometric tools like as Unit Root test, Granger causality test, ARDL Bound test, Error correction model and Co-integration test to investigate the causal relationship and the intensity of the relationship between the service related sector and gross domestic product or economic growth. Granger causality test shows the presence of uni-directional granger causality from the service related sector to gross domestic product. The error correction term implies that the short-run disequilibrium is adjusted with the long-run at the speed of 17 percent. Moreover, ARDL bound approach indicates the service related sector and gross domestic product growth are correlated both in short-run and long-run. The result shows that 1% expansion in service-related sector will result in an increase of 0.64% gross domestic product or economic growth in short-run and 0.75% of GDP in the long-run .
Emission within a damped Lyman a absorption trough: the complex sightline towards Q2059–360

We present new spectroscopic observations of the quasar Q2059-360, confirming the existence of an emission feature within the damped Lyman α (DLA) absorption trough. By observing also at slit positions offset from the quasar, we show that the emission is spatially extended by at least a few arcseconds, and hence confirm that the feature seen must be the result of emission rather than unusual absorption characteristics. We find that the DLA trough is very close in redshift to the broad Lyman α emission line of the quasi-stellar object (QSO), with the result that the DLA absorption removes much of the peak region of that line. Despite the similarity of the redshifts of the DLA system and the QSO, the lack of high-ionization lines of the DLA system and the unresolved widths of the corresponding metal lines indicate that the DLA cloud is not an associated system. The emission feature has a large velocity offset of +490 km s−1 with respect to the DLA system, and is resolved in velocity, comprising two components with a separation of ∼300 km s−1. We consider three possibilities. (1) Both emission and absorption occur within an object similar to the high-redshift Lyman-break galaxies. (2) The emission feature arises from an object distinct from both the DLA absorber and the QSO, perhaps a young star-forming galaxy or a protogalactic clump. It could be associated with the DLA absorber and perhaps the QSO in a compact group or cluster. (3) The redshifts are such that the emission feature could be caused by narrow-line region filaments of the QSO, if the DLA absorption covers a sufficiently small angular size to allow the filaments to be seen beyond the edge of the DLA cloud.
Strategic Adjustment Asymmetries

In symmetric Cournot and Bertrand duopoly models, we show how responses to unforeseen demand shocks may be asymmetric in two ways: First, there can be (multiple) equilibria in which only one firm adjusts after the shock. Secondly, adjustments following positive and negative shocks differ, in the sense that both firms adjust fully to a positive shock, whereas one of the firms may choose not to adjust to a negative shock. Starting from a state of symmetry, it follows that strategies are more flexible upwards than downwards. These qualitative results on adjustment asymmetries hold generally and irrespective of whether firm choices are strategic substitutes or complements.
Does perceived support in employee development affect personnel turnover?

This article focuses on whether it is beneficial for firms to invest in the general skills of their workforce or whether these training investments merely encourage personnel turnover. Estimation results derived from a sample of 2833 Dutch pharmacy assistants show that participation in general training does not induce employees' intention to quit, as predicted by human capital theory. We find that a firm's investments in general training significantly contribute to the perceived support in employee development (PSED) among the workforce, as predicted by social exchange theory. Moreover, we show that PSED is negatively related to employees' intention to quit the firm; however, this effect is to a large extent mediated by employee job satisfaction. Our findings support the importance of social exchange theory in explaining turnover behaviour as a consequence of personnel development practices.
Econometric Methods for Labour Economics

This book provides an accessible presentation of the standard statistical techniques used by labour economists. It emphasises both the input and the output of empirical analysis and covers five major topics concerning econometric methods used in labour economics: regression and related methods, choice modelling, selectivity issues, duration analysis, and policy evaluation techniques. Each of these is presented in terms of model specification, possible estimation problems, diagnostic checking, and interpretation of the output. It aims to provide guidance to practitioners on how to use the techniques and how to make sense of the results that are produced. It covers methods that are considered to be 'standard' tools in labour economics, but which are often given only a brief and highly technical treatment in econometrics textbooks. It will be a useful reference for postgraduates and advanced undergraduates, researchers embarking on empirical labour market analysis, and for more experienced economists wishing to apply these techniques for the first time.
Pruning Convolutional Neural Networks for Resource Efficient Transfer Learning

We propose a new framework for pruning convolutional kernels in neural networks to enable efficient inference, focusing on transfer learning where large and potentially unwieldy pretrained networks are adapted to specialized tasks. We interleave greedy criteria-based pruning with fine-tuning by backpropagation - a computationally efficient procedure that maintains good generalization in the pruned network. We propose a new criterion based on an efficient first-order Taylor expansion to approximate the absolute change in training cost induced by pruning a network component. After normalization, the proposed criterion scales appropriately across all layers of a deep CNN, eliminating the need for per-layer sensitivity analysis. The proposed criterion demonstrates superior performance compared to other criteria, such as the norm of kernel weights or average feature map activation.
Externe Kosten durch Verkehrslrm in Stadt und Agglomeration Zrich

In diesem Aufsatz befassen wir uns mit der Bestimmung der externen Lärmkosten des Strassenverkehrs. Ausgangspunkt bildet eine empirische Studie, welche sich mit der Erfassung der Zahlungsbereitschaft für Ruhe befasst. Diese Studie wurde am sozialökonomischen Seminar der Uni Zürich durchgeführt und 1990 im Rahmen der Dissertation des ersten Autors veröffentlicht (ITEN 1990). Die Ergebnisse werden zur Zeit in einem Projekt des NFP 25, "Stadt und Verkehr", angewandt und aufgearbeitet, um die externen Kosten des Verkehrs in der Agglomeration Zürich abzuschätzen. Die Unterstützung durch den Schweizerischen Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung wird verdankt. Der Aufsatz ist wie folgt aufgebaut:
Fluency : Still Waiting After All These Years

Almost 25 years ago my article “Fluency: The Neglected Goal” (Allington, 1983a) was published. Fluency was a topic of interest for a while. A number of studies, most often measuring the effectiveness of some form of repeated reading on fluency, were published over the years, but fluency did not really become a focal point of educators’ concerns again until it was identified as one of the evidence-based “pillars” of scientific reading by the National Reading Panel (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHD], 2000). Still, there remain a number of issues concerning fluency that have not been adequately sorted out.
The Effects of Co-Treatment on Concept Development in Children With Down Syndrome

This preliminary study investigated the effects of co-treatment by an adapted physical educator and speech-language pathologist on basic concept vocabulary learning in preschool children with Down syndrome as compared with the effects of treatment by either professional alone. In a Repeated Acquisition Design/Adapted Alternating Treatment study, 10 preschool children with Down syndrome were taught five basic concept words each week in a co-treatment intervention, in adapted physical education alone, or in speech-language therapy alone across 9 weeks. Each week, participants participated in a pre- and posttest. Four children learned the most words in the co-treatment condition and the remaining six children did not learn different numbers of words across conditions. Individual characteristics of children in the study were evaluated to determine possible factors that differentiate learning patterns among children. This preliminary study provides evidence that co-treatment may be effective for vocabulary teaching for some children with Down syndrome, particularly those with relatively high nonverbal intelligence.
Sex Differences in Patients Receiving Anticoagulant Therapy for Venous Thromboembolism

AbstractIn patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE), the outcome during the course of anticoagulant therapy may differ according to the patient’s sex. We used the RIETE (Registro Informatizado Enfermedad TromboEmbólica) database to compare the rate of VTE recurrences, major bleeding, and mortality due to these events according to sex.As of August 2013, 47,499 patients were enrolled in RIETE, of whom 24,280 (51%) were women. Women were older, more likely presented with pulmonary embolism (PE), and were more likely to have recent immobilization but less likely to have cancer than men. During the course of anticoagulation (mean duration: 253 d), 659 patients developed recurrent deep vein thrombosis (DVT), 576 recurrent PE, 1368 bled, and 4506 died. Compared with men, women had a lower rate of DVT recurrences (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.67–0.91), a similar rate of PE recurrences (HR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.83–1.15), a higher rate of major bleeding (HR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.09–1.35), and higher mortality due to PE (HR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.04–1.47). On multivariable analysis, any influence of sex on the risk for recurrent DVT (HR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.75–1.03), major bleeding (HR: 1.10; 95% CI: 0.98–1.24), or fatal PE (HR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.84–1.22) was no longer statistically significant.In conclusion, women had fewer DVT recurrences and more bleeds than men during the course of anticoagulation. These differences were not due to sex, but very likely to other patient characteristics more common in female patients and differences in treatment choice.
The Effects of Experience and Attrition for Novice High-School Science and Mathematics Teachers

New Teacher Syndrome The employment retention of high-school science and math teachers in the United States has diminished over recent decades, such that now many students are being taught by novice teachers. Henry et al. (p. 1118) have analyzed the effectiveness of teachers by examining data collected from North Carolina public schools. Less-effective teachers seem to have a greater tendency to leave teaching and the greatest gains in teacher effectiveness are when the teacher is new—within the first 3 years on the job. Some subject areas are more likely to be affected by the preponderance of novice teachers than other subjects, including math and science. New teachers face a steep learning curve, and those who fall off tend to leave teaching. Because of the current high proportion of novice high-school teachers, many students’ mastery of science and mathematics depends on the effectiveness of early-career teachers. In this study, which used value-added models to analyze high-school teachers’ effectiveness in raising test scores on 1.05 million end-of-course exams, we found that the effectiveness of high-school science and mathematics teachers increased substantially with experience but exhibited diminishing rates of return by their fourth year; that teachers of algebra 1, algebra 2, biology, and physical science who continued to teach for at least 5 years were more effective as novice teachers than those who left the profession earlier; and that novice teachers of physics, chemistry, physical science, geometry, and biology exhibited steeper growth in effectiveness than did novice non–science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers.
Information Workforce in New Zealand , 1991-2001

We document the size, composition and changes in New Zealand’s information workforce over the period 1991 to 2001. The estimates are disaggregated into Maori/non-Maori, by gender, and by major occupational categories. The absolute as well as relative size of the information workforce has continued to grow during the period. While the findings for women in general are encouraging, those for Maori, and especially Maori men, seem less so. Maori remain underrepresented in the information workforce. * We thank two referees for helpful comments which improved this paper.