Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Analysis of Selected Physicochemical Properties of Pozzolan Portland and MTA-Based Cements

Physicochemical properties of pozzolan Portland cement were compared to ProRoot MTA and MTA BIO. To test the pH, the samples were immersed in distilled water for different periods of time. After the pH analysis, the sample was retained in the plastic recipient, and the electrical conductivity of the solution was measured. The solubility and radiopacity properties were evaluated according to specification 57 of the American National Standard Institute/American Dental Association (ANSI/ADA). The statistical analyses were performed using ANOVA and Tukey's test at a 5% level of significance. Pozzolan Portland cement exhibited pH and electrical conductivity mean values similar to those of the MTA-based cements. The solubilities of all tested materials were in accordance with the ANSI/ADA standards. Only the MTA-based cements met the ANSI/ADA recommendations for radiopacity. It might be concluded that the pH and electrical conductivity of pozzolan Portland cement are similar to and comparable to those of MTA-based cements.
Humidity Sensor Using an Air Capacitor

We studied the possibility that an air capacitor can be used as a humidity sensor by measuring capacitance change. In order to investigate the possibility, the change of capacitance of an air capacitor due to moisture in air was first considered theoretically, and was then experimentally verified. The capacitance was measured by an LCR impedance meter with a 100-kHz and 1-V ac. The results revealed that the changes in the experimentally measured capacitances were greater than those in the theoretically calculated values. Based on this fact, we knew that an air capacitor could be used as part of a humidity sensing device. We expect the humidity sensor with an air capacitor has characteristics of fast response time, high reliability, and high durability compared with other conventional methods.
The Adaptation of the Motivation to Lead Instrument to the Estonian Military Context

Abstract Purpose: This study is a contribution to the validation of the Motivation to Lead (MTL) scale proposed by Chan and Drasgow (2001) in order to measure three types of motivation to be a leader: affective, social-normative and calculative. This research examines the psychometrical properties of the MTL scale in the Estonian context. Methodology: The sample of 517 military and non-military individuals from the Estonian Defence Forces, Estonian Police and students from Tallinn University participated in the study. The original MTL scale was expanded by with the addition of ideological and patriotic dimensions proposed by Amit and colleagues (2007). The factorial structure of the MTL Scale was analysed by using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (respectively N = 170 and N = 347). Findings: The results confirmed that both three- and five-component MTL scales are applicable in the Estonian context; the pool of 35 items was reduced into 25 items with good internal reliability. Moreover, the results showed correlations between leadership self-efficacy and MTL components, and differences between leaders’ and non-leaders’ MTL. The results indicate that the MTL scale can be a reliable and useful instrument to measure leadership motivation in the Estonian military context. Originality: This study is the first to adapt the MTL scale to the Estonian context. In addition, it examines the validity of ideological and patriotic MTL as part of the general MTL construct outside of the Israeli samples.
Dyn-FO: A Parallel, Dynamic Complexity Class

Traditionally, computational complexity has considered only static problems. Classical complexity classes such as NC, P, and NP are defined in terms of the complexity of checking? upon presentation of an entire input? whether the input satisfies a certain property. For many applications of computers it is more appropriate to model the process as a dynamic one. There is a fairly large object being worked on over a period of time. The object is repeatedly modified by users and computations are performed. We develop a theory of dynamic complexity. We study the new complexity class, dynamic first-order logic (Dyn-FO). This is the set of properties that can be maintained and queried in first-order logic, i.e., relational calculus, on a relational database. We show that many interesting properties are in Dyn-FO, including multiplication, graph connectivity, bipartiteness, and the computation of minimum spanning trees. Note that none of these problems is in static FO, and this fact has been used to justify increasing the power of query languages beyond first-order. It is thus striking that these problems are indeed dynamic first-order and, thus, were computable in first-order database languages all along. We also define “bounded-expansion reductions” which honor dynamic complexity classes. We prove that certain standard complete problems for static complexity classes, such as REACHafor P, remain complete via these new reductions. On the other hand, we prove that other such problems, including REACH for NL and REACHdfor L, are no longer complete via bounded-expansion reductions. Furthermore, we show that a version of REACHa, called REACHa+, is not in Dyn-FO unless all of P is contained in parallel linear time.
Classification of radar clutters with Artificial Neural Network

The detection performance of radars is usually limited by clutters. Clutter models are necessary factors in the simulation and modeling of radar systems. Therefore, Knowledge of clutters is important to identify targets and The impact of clutter cannot be ignored. Statistical distributions are established models which are widely used in radar clutters performance calculations. Gaussian, Weibull, Rayleigh and K-distribution are four common clutter models. The design of radar detectors and clutter classification are really complicated issues. For clutter classification, the different methods such as Bayesian classifier are used. But in this paper we propose a new classifier for radar clutters. We use Artificial Neural Network to classify four common radar clutter models. First we simulate clutter models then extract their important features like skewness and kurtosis. Finally, we make neural network with two hidden layers which has twenty and fifteen neurons in each layer and we separate clutter models with high accuracy. The results prove the validity of proposed method.
Pay less, consume more? The price elasticity of home care for the disabled elderly in France

Little is known about the price sensitivity of demand for home care of the disabled elderly. We partially fill this knowledge gap by using administrative data on the beneficiaries of the main French home care subsidy program in a department and exploiting interindividual variation in provider prices. We address the potential endogeneity of prices by taking advantage of the unequal spatial coverage of providers and instrumenting price by the number of municipalities served by a provider. We estimate a price elasticity of around -0.4 that is significantly different from both 0 and -1. This less than proportionate response of consumption to price has implications for the efficiency and redistributive impact of variation in the level of copayments in home care subsidy schemes.
Understanding Sources of Self-Efficacy of Chinese Students Learning English in an American Institution

Abstract This qualitative study explores the sources of the self-efficacy development of five Chinese doctoral students’ use of English as a second language in a southeastern university in the United Sates. Although individual differences were reported, common themes were also recognized. Consistent with the self-efficacy theory and previous studies in this field, the major factors that influenced the participants’ self-efficacy beliefs to use English are (1) past performance, (2) peers’ and advisors’ influence, (3) social persuasions, (4) emotional and physiological states, (5) self-awareness of English proficiency, (6) familiarity with and the difficulty level of the tasks, and (7) interest. The uniqueness of this study is that western individualism and Chinese collectivism were considered in the discussion of self-efficacy development. In order to improve Chinese students’ self-efficacy beliefs in learning English as well as to enhance their academic attainments and professional performance, it is necessary to explicitly understand which factors and components play significant roles in the development of their self-efficacy beliefs.
Dynamic Financial Hedging Strategies for a Storable Commodity with Demand Uncertainty

We consider a firm purchasing and processing a storable commodity in a volatile commodity price market. The firm has access to both a commodity spot market and an associated financial derivatives market. The purchased commodity serves as a raw material which is then processed into an end product with uncertain demand. The objective of the firm is to coordinate the replenishment and financial hedging decisions to maximize the mean-variance utility of its terminal wealth over a finite horizon. We employ a dynamic programming approach to characterize the structure of optimal time-consistent policies for inventory and financial hedging decisions of the firm. Assuming unmet demand is lost, we show that under forward hedges the optimal inventory policy can be characterized by a myopic state-dependent base-stock level. The optimal hedging policy can be obtained by minimizing the variance of the hedging portfolio, the value of excess inventory and the profit-to-go as a function of future price. In the presence of a continuum of option strikes, we demonstrate how to construct custom exotic derivatives using forwards and options of all strikes to replicate the profit-to-go function. The financial hedging decisions are derived using the expected profit function evaluated under the optimal inventory policy. These results shed new light into the corporate risk and operations management strategies: inventory replenishment decisions can be separated from the financial hedging decisions as long as forwards are in place, and the dynamic inventory decision problem reduces to a sequence of myopic optimization problems. In contrast to previous results, our work implies that financial hedges do affect optimal operational policies, and inventory and financial hedges can be substitutes. Finally, we extend our analysis to the cases with backorders, price-sensitive demand, and variable transaction costs.
An identity model for network exchange

Network exchange theory has developed primarily as a static, structural theory of power and dependence in networks. the author introduces a dynamic model of the exchange process in which network nodes are based on a model of identity processes as given by identity theory. That is, he uses the assumptions of identity theory to model the identity of a typical experimental subject whose primary goal is to participate in exchanges in an experimental paradigm. Computer simulations of the exchange process based on this identity model then generate predictions about the power advantage of particular nodes (actor's positions) relative to other nodes in a variety of networks. The resulting predictions correspond closely with results obtained in published experiments that have been interpreted as supporting network exchange theory. In addition, varying the characteristics of the identity model in the simulation reveal the interaction between individual (identity) and structural (network) characteristics in determining power and process in the network. He also shows how a process model, like the one simulated, allows us to understand the exchange process over the long run, which can differ considerably from the usual short-term laboratory experiment
PETROLOGY OF BADENIAN IGNIMBRITES, GUTÂI MTS. (EASTERN CARPATHIANS)

1 ABSTRACT. Gutâi Mts. , part of inner Carpathians volcanic arc, consist of products of felsic and intermediate volcanism. The previously known "Badenian Rhyodacitic Formation", expression of the felsic explosive volcanism, is composed of a well-defined basal unit of ignimbrites, overlain by a sequence of resedimented volcaniclastics of similar origin, interlayered with mudstones. The petrography of ignimbrites shows matrix-supported lapilli tuffs having a heterogeneous composition with insignificant lateral variations. The juvenile components, pumice, glass shards and crystals of plagioclase, quartz and biotite are predominant; cognate nonvesicular glassy clasts are rare, unlike accidental clasts of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks which are abundant. Pyroxene andesite accidental lithic clasts and pyroxene crystal clasts are scarce. The geochemical study of ignimbrites pointed out their rhyolitic character and geochemical signatures resembling subduction-related volcanics. Petrogenesis of ignimbrites involves complex evolution in the crustal magma chamber of some enriched (by subduction components) mantle melts. Magmagenesis could be related to the uprise of the astenospheric mantle during the back-arc opening of the Intracarpathian region.
Epitope structures recognised by antibodies against the major coat protein (g8p) of filamentous bacteriophage fd (Inoviridae).

To map the accessible surface of filamentous bacteriophage fd particles, the epitope structures of polyclonal rabbit serum and three mouse monoclonal antibodies raised against complete phage were analysed. Western blot analysis confirmed the major coat protein, gene VIII product (g8p or pVIII), to be the antigen. Overlapping peptides were synthesised by spot synthesis on cellulose membranes, covering the whole sequence of g8p. Each of the three tested monoclonal antibodies, B62-FE2, B62-GF3/G12 and B62-EA11, reacted with a core epitope covering ten amino acid residues at or near the amino terminus of g8p. The epitope recognised by B62-FE2 consists of the ten N-terminal amino acid residues of g8p. Extension of the amino terminus by various sequences did not inhibit binding, indicating that a terminal amino group is not essential for the interaction. Both B62-GF3/G12 and B62-EA11 recognise internal epitopes covering amino acid residues 3 to 12 of g8p. The epitopes of the polyclonal rabbit serum were also confined to the 12 N-terminal amino acid residues. The contribution of individual amino acid residues to the binding was analysed by a set of peptides containing individual amino acids exchanged by glycine. Accessible residues were Glu2, Asp4, Asp5, Pro6, Lys8, Phe11 and Asp12. The positions of the essential amino acid residues within the epitope are in accordance with a helical conformation of the amino-terminal region of g8p. Further, the results suggest new designs of phage display screening vectors to improve their performance in analysing non-linear epitopes.
URBAN PLACE OF RESIDENCE AND INDIVIDUAL CRIMINALITY

Spatial variation in crime within cities has been studied using residential areas as sta tistical units and aggregated data on the population of each area as the basis for con structing variables. There is considerable research available on this topic showing that rates of criminality of different types vary between residential areas and that there are strong relationships between crime rates and other social factors. There has not, how ever, been as much interest in research on the possible relationship on the individual level between the area of residence and the incidence of criminal behaviour. The pre sent study elucidates this relationship for young males who have resided in the same areas of metropolitan Stockholm over a long period of time. Reasons for a Statistical Relationship A statistical relationship between urban area of residence and individual criminality may arise for two reasons. First, it may result from selection processes. These processes entail that certain areas attract residents of certain types, which means that individuals are spatially differentiated according to their criminality or according to other char acteristics—either of the individuals or of their households—that are related to their criminality. Socio-economic and ethnic status and the presence of social problems are characteristics of this kind that are often mentioned. Households with certain char
Differences in Kinetic Properties of Cytochrome Oxidase in Mitochondria from Rat Tissues. A Comparative Study

Abstract Substrate kinetic properties of cytochrome oxidase in rat liver, kidney, brain and heart mitochondria were examined using ascorbate + N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) as the electron donor system. Analysis of the substrate kinetics data revealed tissuespecific expression of kinetic components exhibiting differences with respect to Km, Vmax and Kcat/Km values. Regression analysis data suggest that the enzyme activity may be regulated in a tissue-specific manner.
Globalizing the Boardroom - The Effects of Foreign Directors on Corporate Governance and Firm Performance

We examine the benefits and costs associated with foreign independent directors (FIDs) at U.S. corporations. We find that firms with FIDs make better cross-border acquisitions when the targets are from the home regions of FIDs. However, FIDs also display poor board meeting attendance records and are associated with a greater likelihood of intentional financial misreporting, higher CEO compensation, and a lower sensitivity of CEO turnover to performance. Finally, firms with FIDs exhibit significantly poorer performance, especially as their business presence in the FID's home region becomes less important.
Ego Depletion and Active Violent Media: Video Games, Self-Control, and Aggression

Eric F. Dubow, Advisor The present study aims to examine the relation between violent media exposure (via violent video games) on the one hand and ego depletion, and aggressive behavior, cognitions, and affect on the other. In particular, the goal is to determine if one of the reasons why violent video games stimulate aggression is because they deplete limited cognitive resources (i.e., “ego depletion”), and therefore inhibit self-control. Short-term effects of playing violent video games on aggression have primarily been attributed to priming and mimicry (Anderson, et al. 2010). However, it may be possible that playing video games also depletes limited cognitive resources, reducing self-control, and increasing the likelihood of aggression in response to provocation (Stuck & Baumeister, 2006). Research has been done to examine the relation between selfcontrol and aggression, between self-control and ego depletion, and between ego depletion and aggression. However, little has been done to examine the role of this process in the relation between playing violent video games and aggression, and the current study aims to address this gap in the literature. In this study, data were collected from 96 undergraduate students who either played or watched images from a violent or non-violent video game and then engaged in separate tasks designed to assess ego depletion, aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, and aggressive cognitions. The results indicated that, although playing violent video games did not lead to higher levels of aggression or higher levels of ego depletion, individuals who exhibited higher levels of ego depletion exhibited higher levels of aggressive behaviors. Findings from the current study have implications for future research, including more accurately determining the
The erythrocyte sedimentation rate in general practice: clinical assessment based on case histories.

Thirteen case histories were mailed to 273 general practitioners to study the clinical assessment of the ESR. Participants were asked to state their reference limits for the ESR, as well as action values for the ESR in several clinical situations typical of primary care. The action value should represent the minimal ESR change from a given value necessary to initiate some kind of action towards the patient. The response rate was 76%. In most case histories, half the general practitioners reacted on an ESR change of 10 mm h-1 or less, which is usually due to analytical and biological variation, thus underlining the need for good analytical quality. In general the response was of the same magnitude irrespective of type of case history, i.e. whether the ESR was used in case finding, in diagnosis, or in follow-up. Estimation of the reference limit displayed considerable variation, and knowledge of a previous 'normal' ESR was of minor clinical importance. Furthermore, we found substantial variation regarding the change in ESR necessary to take action in different clinical situations. In principle, for many general practitioners the action value increased as the given ESR increased whereas others reacted on a constant change in ESR, or the change necessary to take action depended on the clinical situation. We conclude that both the different assessments as to the clinical significance of the ESR, and the unawareness of the significance of analytical and biological variation indicate that guidelines for rational use are needed.
Fair shares in health care? Ethnic and socioeconomic influences on recording of preventive care in selected inner London general practices

Abstract Objective: To describe the association of ethnic and socioeconomic status with recording of preventive care information by selected general practitioners. Design: Random selection of people aged 20-64 registered with 43 general practitioners. Ethnic and social characteristics of stratified samples were determined at interview in the subject's home. Recording of preventive information was ascertained from general practitioners' medical records. Setting: Inner London borough of Tower Hamlets. Subjects: 505 out of 739 people confirmed as resident at their home address (190 white, 86 black, 112 Bangladeshi, 105 Chinese or Vietnamese, 12 other). Main outcome measures: Socioeconomic characteristics, consultation with general practitioner, and recorded preventive activities for ethnic groups. Results: Minority ethnic groups were considerably more disadvantaged than white people and five times more likely to be overcrowded (31% v 6%), three times less likely to own their own home (11% v 37%), twice as likely to be in social classes IV and V (54% v 28%) and less likely to be employed (34% v 63%). There were no significant differences between white, black, Bangladeshi, and Chinese or Vietnamese subjects in recording of smoking, blood pressure, alcohol consumption, weight, and height in the general practitioners' medical records. White women were more likely to have a record of mammography (46% v 20%; P=0.03) and of cervical smears than women in minority ethnic groups. Conclusion: Despite major socioeconomic inequity, equitable recording of preventive activity for the major causes of death for white, black and Bangladeshi populations is possible. Chinese and Vietnamese people had lower levels of recording and consultation. Mammography and, to a lesser extent, cervical cytology are inequitably recorded and require additional support at practice level. Key messages Key messages Despite these socioeconomic disparities, selected general practitioners equitably deliver preventive services for the major causes of premature death Recording of mammography and cervical cytology were important exceptions and these programmes require additional support at practice level