Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Cylinder Size on the Modulus of Elasticity and Compressive Strength of Concrete from Static and Dynamic Tests

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effects of cylinder size (150 by 300 mm and 100 by 200 mm) on empirical equations that relate static elastic moduli and compressive strength and static and dynamic elastic moduli of concrete. For the purposes, two sets of one hundred and twenty concrete cylinders, 150 by 300 mm and 100 by 200 mm, were prepared from three different mixtures with target compressive strengths of 30, 35, and 40 MPa. Static and dynamic tests were performed at 4, 7, 14, and 28 days to evaluate compressive strength and static and dynamic moduli of cylinders. The effects of the two different cylinder sizes were investigated through experiments in this study and database collected from the literature. For normal strength concrete (≤40 MPa), the two different cylinder sizes do not result in significant differences in test results including experimental variability, compressive strength, and static and dynamic elastic moduli. However, it was observed that the size effect became substantial in high strength concrete greater than 40 MPa. Therefore, special care is still needed to compare the static and dynamic properties of high strength concrete from the two different cylinder sizes.
A Comparative Study of a Multi-Dimension/Multi-Feature Approach Between Chinese Debate and Speech

This study compares and analyzes Chinese debate and speech from the perspective of registers, which makes itself significant since it fills the gaps in the field. This paper is based on a self-built corpus and refers in Biber’s Multi-dimension/Multi-feature Approach. The quantitative statistical results show that there are 44 significant differences among the 65 linguistic features of debate and speech registers, and that these feature differences, from the macroscopic view, can be summarized into 8 different dimensions, which, to be specific, are known respectively as Multi-directional Interaction VS Single-directional Communication, Demonstrative VS Narrative, Intense Confrontation VS Deliberate Storytelling, Centralized Focuses VS Dispersing Contents, Precise Expressions VS Diverse Methods of Expressions, Informative VS Affective, Specialized VS Universal, along with Literate Style VS Oral Style. Why there are these linguistic features and dimensional differences between the two registers is also explained. It could be fair to say that this study makes a breakthrough on the basis of Biber’s research which mainly put its focus on linguistic features at the lexical, syntactic perspectives. And that is to advance comparing linguistic features between debate and speech registers to perspectives of phonetics and speeds. Yet it has its deficiency for failing to conduct factor analysis in the process of dimension induction due to the limited volume of text corpus.
An Efficient System for Hazy Scene Text Detection using a Deep CNN and Patch-NMS

Scene text detection systems detect texts in natural scene images. Hazy scene text detection is a specific case of scene text detection where detection is done in hazy weather conditions. Haze affects the contrast of the image. In this paper, we reframe the traditional two class hazy scene text detection problem into a four class problem. We develop a deep learning based model that combines features from all layers for accurate and fast text detection from hazy images. In addition, we develop a novel training approach for the four class problem. Merging and patch-NMS are used as post processing steps for fast word detection. We also create a new dataset of hazy scene images and obtain significant improvements on an existing hazy scene text dataset.
Electrocardiogram recordings in free-ranging gannets reveal minimum difference in heart rate during flapping versus gliding flight

Buoyancy is a major determinant of locomotory cost in diving animals. As seabirds have a large amount of air in their feathers and respiratory system, they should work hard against buoyancy to descend in the water column. Since buoyancy decreases with increasing hydrostatic pressure, shallow divers, especially, should work against buoyancy during both the descent and bottom phases of their dives. We deployed miniaturised depth and acceleration recorders on freeranging, foot-propelled divers (great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo) and flipper-propelled divers (little penguins Eudyptula minor) foraging in shallow waters, where both are positively buoyant. We monitored the diving strategies of the birds to assess how they manage to counteract buoyancy using 2 alternative locomotory modes. Cormorants decreased the stroke frequency and surge amplitude during descent and maintained constant swim speed. In contrast, penguins did not change their stroke frequency or heave amplitude; as a result, their swim speed increased during the descent phase. During the bottom phase, cormorants had a low stroke frequency and tilted towards the bottom, while penguins actively stroked in a horizontal position. Furthermore, intensive acceleration periods during the bottom phase were often recorded for penguins, but rarely for cormorants. Great cormorants and little penguins used different strategies to feed underwater. Great cormorants, having lower specific buoyancy, were less active than little penguins, thus adopting an energysaving strategy. We conclude that both foot- and wing-propelled birds diving in shallow waters have developed efficient locomotory strategies to counteract buoyancy, these alternative characteristics being linked to different foraging niches.
Intellectual capital and system of innovation: what really matters at innovative SMEs

Purpose: The aim is to try to build a model for measuring and assessing the simultaneous effect of the three components of the intellectual capital (IC) management on the growth of innovative SMEs. In this first stage of research, the model was tested in a representative sample of innovative SMEs from Galicia, where the performance construct was the cumulative growth measured in a three years period. Design/methodology/approach: This empirical work has been designed with the aim of (1) selecting the best variables from each IC component (human capital-HC, structural capital-SC, and relational capital-RC) at innovative SMEs for explaining cumulative growth; and (2) assessing how much the IC management at innovative SMEs could contribute to their growth. A structural equation model is developed and tested. It allows the identification of the key variables that innovative SMEs are encouraged to manage (17 variables in the current stage) for boosting their growth.
The internal structure of the N400: Frequency characteristics of a language-related ERP component

Successful language comprehension depends not only on the involvement of different domain-specific linguistic processes, but also on their respective time-course. Therefore, a large part of the recent work in psycholinguistics has focused on trying to determine which processes might play a role in language processing and how these processes interact in time. To tackle issues pertaining to underlying linguistic processing domains and their temporal processing characteristics, event-related potentials (ERPs) can be measured throughout the presentation of words/sentences thereby providing a continuous record of language comprehension processes as they unfold. Within this electrophysiologically based methodological approach, for example, a centro-parietal negativity with a maximum at approx. 400 ms post critical word onset could be identified (N400; Kutas & Hillyard, 1980). Until recently, the N400 was regarded as general and unambiguous marker of lexicalsemantic processes (e.g. Kutas & Federmeier, 2000) and it has even been used as ‘diagnostic tool’ in cases where the nature of the observed processing difficulty could not be established straightforwardly. Unfortunately, recent findings from ERP experiments revealed that precisely the N400 with its seemingly unequivocal functional interpretation, has been found in a number of areas which are not only not confined to language-related processes (e.g. Niedeggen & Rosler, 1996) but clearly independent of the lexical-semantic domain (e.g. Bornkessel et al., 2002; Osterhout, 1997).
Evaluation of Chinese Saccharomyces cerevisiae Wine Strains from Different Geographical Origins

Interdelta sequence typing was used to investigate the genetic diversity of 54 Chinese indigenous wine strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae selected on the basis of preliminary sequence analysis from 349 strains that were isolated previously from 15 spontaneous fermentations in Shanshan, Xinjiang, and Qing Tongxia, Ningxia, China. Of the 54 strains tested, 78% (42/54) were confirmed as genetically distinct. Dendrograms based on strain similarity revealed differences in the genetic relationships of Xinjiang yeast populations between table and wine grape varieties, in addition to differences between red and white grape varieties in Ningxia (Dice coefficients of 0.448 and 0.674, respectively). When data from Saccharomyces strains collected from California, France, Italy, northern Europe, and Spain were included in the analysis, the dendrogram revealed five groups containing 51, 4, 48, 3, and 1 strain, respectively. Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces displayed local specific S. cerevisiae biotas that show a clear separation from other strains. Cluster XJ19 isolated from Xinjiang displayed a high level of similarity with UCD587, UCD2515, and UCD2516 from California. Clusters XJ2, XJ7, XJ20, and XJ3, also isolated from Xinjiang, had a lower degree of similarity with other Chinese indigenous genotypes and strains from other regions. This study compares, for the first time, the genetic diversity and relationships between indigenous S. cerevisiae wine strains collected from Xinjiang and Ningxia provinces in China with wine strains from different geographic regions.
Improving the phytoextraction capacity of plants to scavenge metal(loid)-contaminated sites

Plants are able to extract metal(loid) contaminants from the soil or water through their roots and translocate them to harvestable aerial shoots. Of late, this plant potential has been used as a phytotechnology, termed as phytoextraction, for cleaning contaminated sites, and this process has successfully removed elements like As, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb, among others. Exploring plants with high metal-accumulation capacity, as well as engineering new hyperaccumulators, is a need of the hour. It is assumed that hyperaccumulators have a >1 shoot:root metal-accumulation ratio, which they achieve by way of (i) overexpression of transport systems for improved sequestration, (ii) tissue-specific protein expression, and (iii) high concentration of metal chelators. Unlike nonhyperaccumulators, the hyperaccumulating species normally bind metal ions to weak oxygen ligands and use strong ligands only for transient binding during transport to storage sites. Adequate understanding of genetics, biochemistry, and molecular bi.
Interactions Between Emotion Regulation Measures, Depression, and Gender

Throughout history there has been anecdotal, observational and empirical evidence, as well as entire theoretical frameworks indicating that there are differences between men and women when it comes to emotional expression and regulation. For example, differences exist in how and why different emotions are felt in a given circumstance for men versus women and what behaviors these emotions elicit in others. Yet despite these differences the same questionnaires are used to assess emotion regulation. Furthermore, the same diagnostic criteria are used to assess mood disorders in men and women. In the present study the domains of emotion regulation assessed are: 1) alexithymia: problems with identifying, labeling and expressing negative emotion 2) cognitive problems and coping strategies in emotion regulation, and 3) behavioral problems and coping strategies in emotion regulation. Through extensive evaluation and comparison of subscales present in three widely used emotion regulation questionnaires, relative to depressed mood (the Beck Depression Inventory) and gender this study sought to determine: 1. Which of the three domains of emotion regulation (alexithymia, cognitive, or behavioral), if any, interact with gender in predicting the number and severity of depression symptoms? 2. Which emotion regulation domain involves the most problem and coping constructs that, in turn interact with gender to predict depression? Keywords: emotional regulation, gender differences, 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS) INTERACTIONS BETWEEN EMOTION REGULATION 3
Face it: The Impact of Gender on Social Media Images

Social websites like Facebook enable users to upload self-created digital images; it is therefore of interest to see how gender is performed in this domain. A panel used a literature review of pictorial features associated with gender traits, and a sample of Facebook pictures to assess gender stereotypes present in Facebook images. Traits emerging in greater prominence in pictures of males included active, dominant, and independent. Those prominent with female users included attractive and dependent. These findings generally conform to gender stereotypes found in prior research and extend the research regarding stereotypical gender traits displayed in professional media depictions to self-selected social media displays. They also extend the research on gender differences in impression management generally, in both interpersonal communication and social media, to include gender-specific traits that are part of young mens and women's impression management.
Host preference studies on Callosobruchus chinensis (Linnaeus) in different pulses

The host preference studies on Callosobruchus chinensis in different pulses were made under laboratory conditions. Cowpea (C-152) and greengram (S-4) were most preferred hosts. Blackgram was significantly less preferred for oviposition in F1 generation followed by redgram. In F2 generation Blackgram was significantly less preferred for oviposition followed by redgram. The developmental period (34-36 days in F1 and F2 generation) in redgram, adult (76% to 79% in both generations) and grain weight loss (1.50 to 1.70 percent) was also less followed by Blackgram. Initial germination percentage was not much variation in seed germination among the different pulse varieties redgram (TS-3R) variety (83.67) which was on par with greengram (S-4) (83.33) and least germination was in cowpea (80.00%). Moisture per cent significantly high in red gram (10.00) and least variety mothbean (Vijayapura local) (9.3). Final germination (%) on different pulses after two months were significantly highest observed in blackgram (64.33) followed by redgram and least germination percentage was observed in cowpea C-152 (52.67).
Mini mental state examination and evaluation of factors associated with cognitive decline in HIV/AIDS-infected people

Neuropsychiatric complications are present in almost one third of patients diagnosed with AIDS who show wide variations in their clinical symptoms, featuring a spectrum of disorders ranging from minor cognitive-motor impairments to profound dementia. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) is one of the most used and studied cognitive tests around the world and evaluates cognitive function and screening of dementia. Current experiment applies the MMSE to HIV/AIDS patients to screen possible dementia factors in the sample and to evaluate the association of scores that are positively associated with the emergence of cognitive impairment and possible dementia. The study population consisted of 100 HIV/AIDS patients attended at the 15 th and 17 th Regional Health Centers covering 50 municipalities in the northwestern region of the state of Parana, Brazil. Whereas patients were classified with cognitive impairment and patients without cognitive impairment, the factors assessed included depression, body mass index, haematocrit, hemoglobin levels, rate of lymphocytes T CD4+, viral load and gender. Twenty-seven (27%) patients had scores lower than expected and were considered cognitively impaired. There was a significant positive association between cognitive impairment and changes in blood hemoglobin and haematocrit, age and depression.
Evaluation of preadolescent athletes’ running performance in a middle distance event

Introduction. Sport biomechanics focuses on the evaluation of athletes’ running stride characteristics with training shoes and barefoot. Few studies have assessed the running performance of shod and unshod preadolescent athletes, and they have been carried out only in laboratory conditions. Aim of Study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of preadolescent athletes in the 1000 m running event by applying two protocols: with training shoes and barefoot. Material and Methods. Forty three (n = 43) preadolescent athletes were recruited for the study. In the fi rst testing session the participants’ anthropometric data and their VO 2 max were recorded. The athletes were randomly assigned to compete in two testing protocols in counterbalanced order. The t-test assessed the performance in two protocols while the ROC curves were applied to illustrate the discrimination between performances relative to the athletes’ gender. Pearson’s correlation coeffi cient analysis was applied to evaluate the intercorrelations between the athletes’ VO 2 max, and their anthropometric characteristics during an 1000m running event shod and unshod. Results. The results showed that boys performed better than girls in the 1000 m event, shod and unshod. Pearson’s correlation analysis presented a substantial effect on the VO 2 max and body fat in the preadolescents’ performance in both protocols . In spite of the fact that boys performed slightly better than girls, the t-test did not confi rm the signifi cant differences in the athletes’ 1000 m performance barefoot. Conclusions. The importance of the present study lies in the fact that the running performance of preadolescent athletes barefoot is not worse than their perfor1
Cognitive Functioning and Disability in Schizophrenia

Impairments in a variety of cognitive processes, including concentration and attention, learning and memory, processing speed, and problem solving, are present in people with schizophrenia. Also seen in the condition are notable impairments in the ability to perform everyday tasks and to achieve normal functional milestones such as work, stable social relationships, and living independently. In this article I discuss recent research that has focused on quantifying the predictors of disability in real-world functioning, with cognitive impairment being one of the major predictors. Other important developments include the development of direct measures of the ability to perform the skills required to achieve everyday functional goals—skills referred to as “functional capacity. ” Studies have shown that these abilities may be influenced by cognitive impairments and may be better predictors of disability than are cognitive deficits. I also examine the current literature on the treatment of cognitive impairments and functional disability, including both pharmacological and behavioral interventions.
Impact of Farm Credit on Farmers Socio-economic Status in Ogun State Nigeria

Abstract Dwindling farmers productivity as a result of lack of adequate capital to increase yield necessitates this study. Information was obtained from a total of 250 farmers randomly selected from Ogun state, Nigeria. The farmers’ were stratified into beneficiaries of credit and non-beneficiaries. The study shows that there is inadequate provision of loan from formal credit institutions with about 40% of beneficiaries securing loan from formal credit institution and 80% from informal credit institution. Beneficiaries recorded higher 80,000tons cocoa production compared to lower 21,000 tons of cocoa production recorded by non-credit beneficiaries. Consequently, 28% ofbeneficiaries recoded higher mean income ofbetween N21,000-50,000 compared to 10.4% ofnon-beneficiaries. Beneficiaries 54.1% were ofhigher socio-economic status compared to 10.4% ofnon-beneficiaries in the same category. There was positive and significant correlation between performance of farm production operations and securing of credit for crops production level (r-- = 0.382) adoption of new technologies (r=0.490) and proper processing, storage and utilization (r=0.224). The study recommends that for positive impact to be recorded on farmers’ socio-economic status credit should be given to the farmers and research should be intensified at the farm level for farmers to benefit. Key Words: 192
Performance of exhaustive search with parallel agents

The advent of high-performance computing via many-core processors and distributed processing emphasizes the possibility for exhaustive search by multiple search agents. Despite the occurrence of elegant algorithms for solving complex problems, exhaustive search has retained its significance since many real-life problems exhibit no regular structure and exhaustive search is the only possible solution. Here we analyze the performance of exhaustive search when it is conducted by multiple search agents. Several strategies for joint search with parallel agents are evaluated. We discover that the performance of the search improves with the increase in the level of mutual help between agents. The same search performance can be achieved with homogeneous and heterogeneous search agents provided that the lengths of subregions allocated to individual search regions follow the differences in the speeds of heterogeneous search agents. We also demonstrate how to achieve the optimum search performance by means of increasing the dimensions of the search region.
A New Proposal for Computing Portfolio Value-at-Risk for Semi-nonparametric Distributions

This paper proposes a semi-nonparametric (SNP) methodology for computing portfolio value-at-risk (VaR) that is more accurate than both the traditional Gaussian-assumption-based methods implemented in the software packages used by risk analysts (RiskMetrics), and alternative heavy-tailed distributions that seem to be very rigid to incorporate jumps and asymmetries in the distribution tails (e.g. the Student’s t). The outperformance of the SNP distributions lies in the fact that Edgeworth and Gram-Charlier series represent a valid asymptotic approximation of any “regular” probability density function. In fact these expansions involve general and flexible parametric representations capable of featuring the salient empirical regularities of financial data. Furthermore these distributions can be extended to a multivariate context and may be estimated in several steps and thus we propose to estimate portfolio VaR in three steps: Firstly, estimating the conditional variance and covariance matrix of the portfolio consistently with the multivariate SNP distribution; Secondly, estimating the univariate distribution of the portfolio constrained to the portfolio variance obtained from the previous step; Thirdly, computing the corresponding quantile of the portfolio distribution by implementing straightforward recursive algorithms. We estimate the VaRs obtained with such methodology for different bivariate portfolios of stock indices and interests rates finding a clear underestimation (overestimation) of VaR measures obtained from the traditional Gaussian- (Student’s t-) based methods compared to our SNP approach.