Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated temperature ferritic and martensitic steels and their application to future nuclear reactors

Abstract In the 1970s, high chromium (9–12%Cr) ferritic/martensitic steels became candidates for elevated temperature applications in the core of fast reactors. Steels developed for conventional power plants, such as Sandvik HT9, a nominally Fe–12Cr–1Mo–0·5W–0·5Ni–0·25V–0·2C steel (composition in wt-%), were considered in the USA, Europe and Japan. Now, a new generation of fission reactors is in the planning stage, and ferritic, bainitic and martensitic steels are again candidates for in-core and out-of-core applications. Since the 1970s, advances have been made in developing steels with 2–12%Cr for conventional power plants that are significant improvements over steels originally considered. The present study will review the development of the new steels to illustrate the advantages they offer for the new reactor concepts. Elevated temperature mechanical properties will be emphasised. Effects of alloying additions on long-time thermal exposure with and without stress (creep) will be examined. Information on neutron radiation effects will be discussed as it applies to ferritic and martensitic steels.
Ship detection and characterization using polarimetric SAR

Polarimetric information is investigated for ship detection and characterization at operational satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) incidence angles (20°‐60°). It is shown that among the conventional single-channel polarizations (HH, VV, or HV), HV provides the best ship‐sea contrast at incidence angles smaller than 50°. Furthermore, HH polarization permits the best ship‐sea contrast at near-grazing incidence angles. The wave polarization anisotropy is used for optimal information extraction from polarimetric SAR data. It is shown that fully polarimetric information permits a significant improvement in the ship‐sea contrast for relatively calm wind conditions, in comparison with conventional (i.e., scalar) single-channel polarizations (i.e., HH, VV, or HV). For rougher sea conditions, the effectiveness of polarimetric tools may be significantly degraded. Ship characterization is also investigated using the symmetric scattering characterization method (SSCM). Identification of ship targets with significant symmetric scattering can provide a useful ship pitch angle estimate under certain conditions.
The temperature and ionization structure of the emitting gas in H ii galaxies: implications for the accuracy of abundance determinations

We propose a methodology to perform a self-consistent analysis of the physical properties of the emitting gas of H ii galaxies adequate to the data that can be obtained with the 21st century technology. This methodology requires the production and calibration of empirical relations between the different line temperatures that should supersede currently used ones based on very simple, and poorly tested, photoionization model sequences. As a first step to reach these goals, we have obtained simultaneous blue to far red long-slit spectra with the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) of three compact H ii galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 2 (DR2) spectral catalogue using the INAOE Virtual Observatory superserver. Our spectra cover the range from 3200 to 10 500 A, including the Balmer jump, the [O ii] λλ 3727, 29 A lines, the [S iii] λλ 9069, 9532 A doublet as well as various weak auroral lines such as [O iii] λ 4363 A and [S iii] λ 6312 A. For the three objects, we have measured at least four line temperatures, T([O iii]), T([S iii]), T([O ii]) and T([S ii]), and the Balmer continuum temperature T(Bac). These measurements and a careful and realistic treatment of the observational errors yield total oxygen abundances with accuracies between 5 and 9 per cent. These accuracies are expected to improve as better calibrations based on more precise measurements, both on electron temperatures and densities, are produced. We have compared our obtained spectra with those downloaded from the SDSS DR3 finding a satisfactory agreement. The analysis of these spectra yields values of line temperatures and elemental ionic and total abundances which are in general agreement with those derived from the WHT spectra, although for most quantities they can only be taken as estimates since, due to the lack of direct measurements of the required lines, theoretical models had to be used whose uncertainties are impossible to quantify. The ionization structure found for the observed objects from the O+/O2+ and S+/S2+ ratios points to high values of the ionizing radiation, as traced by the values of the ‘softness parameter’η which is less than 1 for the three objects. The use of line temperatures derived from T([O iii]) based on current photoionization models yields for the two highest excitation objects, much higher values of η which would imply lower ionizing temperatures. This is, however, inconsistent with the ionization structure as probed by the measured emission-line intensities. Finally, we have measured the T(Bac) for the three observed objects and derived temperature fluctuations. Only for one of the objects, the temperature fluctuation is significant and could lead to higher oxygen abundances by about 0.20 dex.
Two Modes of North American Drought from Instrumental and Paleoclimatic Data

Abstract Droughts, which occur as a part of natural climate variability, are expected to increase in frequency and/or severity with global climate change. An improved understanding of droughts and their association with atmospheric circulation will add to the knowledge about the controls on drought, and the ways in which changes in climate may impact droughts. In this study, 1) major drought patterns across the United States have been defined, 2) the robustness of these patterns over time using tree-ring-based drought reconstructions have been evaluated, and 3) the drought patterns with respect to global atmospheric pressure patterns have been assessed. From this simple assessment, it is suggested that there are two major drought patterns across North America, which together account for about 30% of the total variance in drought patterns—one resembles the classic ENSO teleconnection, and the other displays an east–west drought dipole. The same two patterns are evident in the instrumental data and the reco.
The Impact of Organizational Culture, Feminist Theory and Leadership of the First Seven Presidents on the Historical Development of Mercyhurst College (1926-1972)

The religious heritage and ideals of many American Catholic colleges and universities are associated with the orders of women religious that established women’s colleges in the 19 century and served them through the 20 century. The social histories of their individual colleges are just beginning to be written. This study provides historical information on the first seven Sister of Mercy presidents of Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. It searches out the role each of these presidents played, not just in maintaining the culture of the institution, but also in making significant adaptations to it. The study focuses on female-centered leadership and investigates alternative forms of organization of an institution by giving attention to current literature related to transformational and transactional leadership styles. A determination of the extent to which each woman leader is a “transformational” leader is an ultimate objective of the study. This researcher uses the case study method and historical approach, which require the analysis and interpretation of archival documents, including biographies and personal communication, and of information accessed through interviews gathered from people who knew the female presidents of the college. In looking closely at the female leadership of Mercyhurst College, this researcher seeks to offer insights into organizational culture, feminist theory, and the leadership styles of the college’s women religious presidents. Ultimately, this researcher aims at constructing a study that models feminist theory in its respect for written documents and a spirit of dialogue.
Food Intake Adaptation to Dietary Fat Involves PSA-Dependent Rewiring of the Arcuate Melanocortin System in Mice

Hormones such as leptin and ghrelin can rapidly rewire hypothalamic feeding circuits when injected into rodent brains. These experimental manipulations suggest that the hypothalamus might reorganize continually in adulthood to integrate the metabolic status of the whole body. In this study, we examined whether hypothalamic plasticity occurs in naive animals according to their nutritional conditions. For this purpose, we fed mice with a short-term high-fat diet (HFD) and assessed brain remodeling through its molecular and functional signature. We found that HFD for 3 d rewired the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, increasing the anorexigenic tone due to activated pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons. We identified the polysialic acid molecule (PSA) as a mediator of the diet-induced rewiring of arcuate POMC. Moreover, local pharmacological inhibition and genetic disruption of the PSA signaling limits the behavioral and metabolic adaptation to HFD, as treated mice failed to normalize energy intake and showed increased body weight gain after the HFD challenge. Altogether, these findings reveal the existence of physiological hypothalamic rewiring involved in the homeostatic response to dietary fat. Furthermore, defects in the hypothalamic plasticity-driven adaptive response to HFD are obesogenic and could be involved in the development of metabolic diseases.
NF-B , a Potential Therapeutic Target for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that afflicts over 2 million people worldwide. On the basis of the temporal course of disease, MS can be subdivided into three clinical groups: relapsing remitting MS (RR-MS), secondary progressive MS and primary progressive MS. There is a high degree of clinical diversity within these subgroups. The pathogenesis of MS in most patients is likely to result from autoreactive, activated CD4 + T cells moving from the periphery across the blood brain barrier into the CNS. Most therapeutic agents used in MS (e.g. immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory drugs and cell cycle interruption drugs) are only used for RR-MS. These treatments show some efficiency in lessening the relapse rate in RR-MS and time to progression, but cannot cure MS. Thus, there is a need for new efficient treatments for all types of MS. An increasing number of studies indicate that nuclear factorB plays an important role in controlling expression of genes relevant to the pathogenesis of autoimmunity. Genetic factors related to NFB may also be determinants of MS susceptibility, as polymorphisms in the molecules involved in regulation of the NFB signal transduction pathway differ between RRMS and progressive MS. Herein, the role of NFB in MS will be reviewed and its potential as a new therapeutic target in MS will be considered and compared with existing treatments.
A wavelet-based approach to the estimation of the Hurst parameter for self-similar data

In this paper we analyse a wavelet based method for the estimation of the Hurst parameter of synthetically-generated self-similar traces, widely used in a great variety of applications, ranging from computer graphics to parsimonious traffic modelling in broadband networks. The aim of this work is to point out the efficiency of multiresolution schemes in the analysis of fractal processes, characterized by similar statistical features over different time scales. To this end we generated a huge amount of data using the random midpoint displacement (RMD) algorithm, a well-known fast technique for the generation of fractional Gaussian noise (fGn) traces. We then evaluated the Hurst parameter of such sequences in the wavelet domain and compared the results with those obtained with more traditional methods, based on the estimation of the fractal dimensional (Higuchi method) and the moments of the aggregated series.
Career-switchers in career and teaching education school system: what drives them to remain in teaching?

Teacher attrition embarks seriousness in the teaching arena, whereby research reported a number of teachers leaving their profession in their early years of their profession. Often, this number does not represent CTE teachers’ scarcity in depicting teachers’ dropout. This realm contributes to a deeper understanding and reasons for us to carry out research pertaining to CTE teachers. The nature of the study was coming from a mixed-methods design, however, this article mainly presents findings from the qualitative section. Five hundred and eighty-one CTE teachers responded to the online survey and out of this number, only 272 were identified as career-switchers. Based upon constant comparative methods, there are three themes emerged from the study. The themes are passionate in making a difference of students, teaching as a compassionate job, and teaching as a chosen occupation. Implications of the results and future direction presented in this article contribute to a deeper understanding in cultivating the spirit and values behind the teaching profession among CTE teachers. Valuing the role of CTE teachers in the CTE educational system will ensure the continuity of supply of semi-skilled employee from the industry. For this reason, understanding their reasons of staying as teachers will assist them not only to survive in teaching, but also enjoying the profession altogether.
Various Passport Options and Their Valuation

The passport option is a call option on the balance of a trading account. The option holder retains the gain from trading, while the writer is liable for the loss. Multi-asset passport options and passport options with discrete constraints are studied. For the first ones the pricing equations are Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations. For those with discrete constraints, a linear complementary problem must be solved in order to price the option. The gain by selling passport options to utility maximizing investors and to investors who guess the market a certain percentage of the time is also examined.
Galaxy shear estimation from stacked images

Statistics of the weak lensing of galaxies can be used to constrain cosmology if the galaxy shear can be estimated accurately. In general, this requires accurate modelling of unlensed galaxy shapes and the point spread function (PSF). I discuss suboptimal but potentially robust methods for estimating galaxy shear by stacking images such that the stacked-image distribution is closely Gaussian by the central limit theorem. The shear can then be determined by radial fitting, requiring only an accurate model of the PSF rather than also needing to model each galaxy accurately. When noise is significant, asymmetric errors in the centroid must be corrected, but the method may ultimately be able to give accurate unbiased results when there is a high galaxy density with constant shear. It provides a useful baseline for more optimal methods, and a test case for estimating biases, though the method is not directly applicable to realistic data. I test stacking methods on the simple toy simulations with constant PSF and shear provided by the GREAT08 project, on which most other existing methods perform significantly more poorly, and briefly discuss generalizations to more realistic cases. In the Appendix, I discuss a simple analytic galaxy population model where stacking gives optimal errors in a perfect ideal case.
Dialogic Reading and Adapted Dialogic Reading With Preschoolers With Autism Spectrum Disorder

An adapted alternating treatments design, replicated across two books, was used to examine the effects of Dialogic Reading delivered using traditional paperback books and technology-enhanced books utilizing a Surface tablet on the vocabulary acquisition of four preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder. For each book, 30 words were randomly assigned to conditions (i.e., 10 to traditional Dialogic Reading, 10 to Dialogic Reading with technology, 10 to control). Intervention was delivered 1 to 4 times per week across 6 months. Results suggest both methods increased vocabulary compared with baseline. Dialogic Reading delivered via both paperback and technology-enhanced books is promising for increasing vocabulary for preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder.
Development and Validation of a Brand Trust Scale

To enrich the limited and recent work in existence on relational phenomena in the consumer-brand domain, the authors focus on the concept of brand trust. The non-existence of a wider accepted measure of this concept is surprising given that: (1) trust is viewed as the cornerstone and one of the most desired qualities in a relationship; and (2) it is the most important attribute a brand can own. In this context, this research reports the results of a multi-step study to develop and validate a multidimensional brand trust scale drawn from the conceptualisation of trust in other academic fields. Multi-step psychometric tests demonstrate that the new brand trust scale is reliable and valid. Both theoretical and managerial implications are presented.
The Structure of the Site on Adenovirus Early Region 1A Responsible for Binding to TATA-binding Protein Determined by NMR Spectroscopy*

Previous detailed mutational analysis has shown that the binding site on adenovirus (Ad) early region 1A (E1A) for TATA-binding protein (TBP) is located toward the N terminus of conserved region 3 (CR3). Here we demonstrate that synthetic peptides of between 15 and 22 amino acids, identical to amino acid sequences of CR3 present in the larger Ad5 E1A (13 S product) and in both the Ad12 E1A (13 and 12 S products) proteins that lie N-terminal to the zinc finger motif, can disrupt binding of E1A to TBP. These findings suggest that the peptides are biologically active in terms of interacting with TBP and must therefore comprise some, if not all, of the TBP binding site on E1A. The interaction between Ad12 E1A and TBP was confirmed by direct co-precipitation experiments. In 1H NMR studies of CR3 peptides, regular patterns of NOEs were observed from which their conformational preferences in aqueous solution were determined. Both Ad5 and Ad12 peptides were shown to contain regions of helical backbone structure in 50% trifluoroethanol. In each case, the type and intensities of NOE cross-peaks observed correlated best to α-helical turns. These helices are more extensive in larger peptides and extend from Glu141 to Val147 and from Arg144 to Pro152 in the full-length Ad5 and Ad12 13S E1A proteins, respectively. The structure of a 19-residue Ad5 CR3 peptide carrying the V147L mutation in the full-length protein that abolishes TBP binding was examined. No significant differences between the substituted and wild type peptides were observed, suggesting that this substitution in the intact protein may cause disruption of global rather than local structures.
Antecedents of Sport Event Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions: The Role of Sport Identification, Motivation, and Place Dependence

This study evaluates a theoretical model of event attendees' behavioral intentions based on social identity theory. The model postulates that sport identification, motivation, place dependence, and event satisfaction are antecedents of event behavioral intentions. The model was tested among participants at the Interamnia World Cup (IWC), an annual event in the sport of handball in Teramo, Italy. A sample of 271 international sport tourists revealed significant relationships between sport identification, motivation, place dependence, and event satisfaction. Unlike place dependence, sport identification does not predict event behavioral intentions. Both sport identification and place dependence do not predict event satisfaction. The findings suggest that event marketers can foster behavioral intentions either through event satisfaction or building place dependence among event participants. Implications for the marketing of sporting events are also suggested.
A prospective investigation of the impact of smoking bans on tobacco cessation and relapse

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To examine the long term impact of workplace smoking bans on employee smoking cessation and relapse. Over three years we studied a total of 1033 current or former smokers (intervention group) employed in smoke-free hospitals and 816 current or former smokers (comparison group) employed in non-smoke-free workplaces. The design of this natural experiment is a prospective cohort study. We randomly selected both hospitals and employees from 12 strata based on hospital size and state tobacco regulations, and sampled employees in the same communities. Main outcome measures were post-ban quit ratio and relapse rate. RESEARCH DESIGN Between groups comparisons were conducted using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistic for general association, stratified Cox proportional hazards models, and the CMH analysis of variance statistic based on ranks. McNemar's test and the sign test were used to test for changes over time within each group. RESULTS Differences in the post-ban quit ratio were observed between intervention and comparison groups (p ⩽ 0.02). For employees whose bans were implemented at least seven years before survey, the post-ban quit ratio was estimated at 0.256, compared with 0.142 for employees in non-smoke-free workplaces (p = 0.02). After controlling for a variety of factors, time to quit smoking was shorter for the hospital employees (p < 0.001), with an overall relative risk of quitting of 2.3. Contrary to expectations, relapse rates were similar between the groups. CONCLUSION Employees in workplaces with smoking bans have higher rates of smoking cessation than employees where smoking is permitted, but relapse is similar between these two groups of employees. The results of this investigation have international applicability for policy makers, clinicians, employers, and employees. Countries should review smoking policies in workplaces in light of their own smoking patterns and efforts to deal with environmental tobacco smoke.
Alteration of JNK-1 Signaling in Skeletal Muscle Fails to Affect Glucose Homeostasis and Obesity-Associated Insulin Resistance in Mice

Obesity and associated metabolic disturbances, such as increased circulating fatty acids cause prolonged low grade activation of inflammatory signaling pathways in liver, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and even in the CNS. Activation of inflammatory pathways in turn impairs insulin signaling, ultimately leading to obesity-associated type 2 diabetes mellitus. Conventional JNK-1 knock out mice are protected from high fat diet-induced insulin resistance, characterizing JNK-1-inhibition as a potential approach to improve glucose metabolism in obese patients. However, the cell type-specific role of elevated JNK-1 signaling as present during the course of obesity has not been fully elucidated yet. To investigate the functional contribution of altered JNK-1 activation in skeletal muscle, we have generated a ROSA26 insertion mouse strain allowing for Cre-activatable expression of a JNK-1 constitutive active construct (JNKC). To examine the consequence of skeletal muscle-restricted JNK-1 overactivation in the development of insulin resistance and glucose metabolism, JNKC mice were crossed to Mck-Cre mice yielding JNKSM-C mice. However, despite increased muscle-specific JNK activation, energy homeostasis and glucose metabolism in JNKSM-C mice remained largely unaltered compared to controls. In line with these findings, obese mice with skeletal muscle specific disruption of JNK-1, did not affect energy and glucose homeostasis. These experiments indicate that JNK-1 activation in skeletal muscle does not account for the major effects on diet-induced, JNK-1-mediated deterioration of insulin action and points towards a so far underappreciated role of JNK-1 in other tissues than skeletal muscle during the development of obesity-associated insulin resistance.