Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental study on seismic performance of steel beam to SRC column connections

Abstract The seismic performance of steel beam to steel reinforced concrete (SRC) column connections was investigated experimentally through cyclic loading tests of two full‐scale specimens. In this study, the SRC column was made of a steel box section encased in reinforced concrete. The reason for using an SRC column is to take advantage of its fire resistance, structural stiffness and strength. The experimental results showed that both of the test specimens demonstrated excellent seismic resistance capability. The steel beams of the connections were able to develop plastic rotations in excess of 5.3% radians. Satisfactory interstory drift angle up to 6.2% radians was observed from the tests. The experiments also indicated that the reinforced concrete in the beam‐to‐column connection zone provided an “effective constraint” to the embedded portion of the steel beam in the joint. It was observed that this constraint successfully assisted the steel beam to develop a plastic hinge outside of the SRC column face. Consequently, the groove‐welded joint of the steel beam to the steel box section in the SRC column was protected by the reinforced concrete and avoided possible premature failure.
Geology and emplacement history of the Nuevo Rosarito plutonic suite in the southern Peninsular Ranges batholith, Baja California, México

The Cretaceous Nuevo Rosarito plutonic suite is located in the southern part of the Peninsular Ranges batholith (~28.7 °N). It is hosted by a suite of Jurassic granitoid rocks dated at 151.6 Ma (U-Pb single zircon ages) and by Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. Host rocks display solid-state fabrics related to a deformational event that occurred before the emplacement of the Nuevo Rosarito plutonic suite. The composition of the suite ranges from gabbro to granite. The suite is sub-alkaline and it is divided into three mafic and four felsic units. The geochemical composition of the felsic units varies from metaluminous to peraluminous, and shows arc-related geochemical signatures. Structural and geochemical data suggest that the emplacement of the plutonic suite took place in two episodes. The first one is defined by the intrusion of mafic units in which dioritic bodies were emplaced within a gabbroic body along NNE-SSW oriented extensional fractures. The second episode is defined by the intrusion of three felsic units during a NE-side up, syn-emplacement movement that occurred around 108.4 Ma.
The Dynamic Impacting Study of Competitive Strategies to Import Retail E-Commerce Sellers

The authors investigated several import retail e-commerce sellers through questionnaires and selected several types of variables based on Porter's competitive strategy theory. Then the authors used the panel data to empirically verify theoretical consumptions based on samples got by Python method from Jingdong Global Purchases and Tmall International, the top two e-commerce platforms in China. Results validated the three major competitive strategies that could enhance the competitive advantages to import retail e-commerce sellers. As it was not applied to all platforms and commodities, sellers should make different strategies through different platforms and commodities. This article has theoretical significance that filled in the gaps on import retail e-commerce sellers' competition. It also has certain practical significance by providing references for sellers on how to improve their competitive advantages, promote healthy competition and development of the import retail e-commerce, even to facilitate the structure adjustment of consumption and foreign trade in China.
Appropriateness of hospital use Report from an Italian study

The objective was to assess the extent of inappropriate hospital admission and stay in an adult patient population and identify potential correlates of such inappropriateness. Design: a cross-sectional survey on a sample of 1,082 in-patients using a modified version of the appropriateness evaluation protocol (AEP). Setting: adult acute departments in a 950 bed teaching hospital in the greater Milan area. The patient sample consisted of patients cared for at 1 of the participating departments on any of 3 index days between October 1989 and June 1990. The results show that overall 27% of the admissions and 40% of the hospital days were inappropriate. The rate of inappropriate admissions was higher for patients admitted during week days and was also significantly associated with the admitting ward and the age of the patient. Inappropriate hospital-day stays were related to the type of ward and to the location during the stay, with those sampled in the later part of their stay having the highest rate of inappropriateness. Most of the hospital days rated as not appropriate did not require any further stay (75%). Conclusions: a substantial proportion of hospital use was found to be medically unnecessary and, for the most part, due to hospital functioning or the behaviour of the doctors. Some properties of the AEP (high inter-rater reliability, predictrvrty of expected associations) were also confirmed. The basic features of this revised version of the AEP make it a good candidate for becoming of great importance in monitoring the effect of the changes the Italian National Health Service is currently undergoing. concerns about health care costs seem to have spread both in the US and Europe1 together with increasing critical attention to the effectiveness of medical care. The assessment of hospital utilization finds its justification in the awareness that part of such utilization may be inappropriate either from the medical and economic viewpoints, i.e. patients receive either services that provide no significant benefits or services that could be rendered, at lower cost, elsewhere. Although several methods have been proposed to assess the medical necessity of hospitalization, all suffer from high subjectivity, low reliability, cost and complexity of implementatio n. ~^ The appropriateness evaluation protocol (AEP) has been shown to overcome most of these drawbacks while still retaining good validity and reliability.5"7 The AEP is a utilization review tool that has certain features that make it especially attractive. First, it is diagnosis independent and based on a set of explicit criteria whose compliance leads to the classification of a hospital day as appropriate. Secondly, estimates of the level of inappropriateness can be based on a cross-sectional analysis of a single day of
SERVICOM Policy, Workplace Deviance and Service Delivery in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency

Lack of prompt and efficient service delivery has emerged as part of the criticisms leveled against public corporations in Nigeria. Perhaps, major fallout of this development has been the preponderance of employees in the sector to engage in various behaviors inimical to prompt and efficient service delivery. Unfortunately, deviance is a problem to the organizations due to its financial implication and detrimental effects on the organization’s image. However, SERVICOM policy was designed as measure to combat deviance behavior in public corporations in Nigeria. This study therefore evaluates the relationship between, SERVICOM policy, service delivery and workplace deviance in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) using survey research method. A sample of 225 respondents was drawn from the 500 NAMA employees using accidental sampling technique. Data collected were tested and analyzed using descriptive, frequency distribution and regression analysis. The result of the hypotheses tested at 5% level of significance showed that there is a significant relationship between SERVICOM policy, service delivery and workplace deviance. Thus, the study recommended that organizations and their management should give due attention to SERVICOM policy, ensure that their employees are sufficiently knowledgeable and satisfied with the policy in order to promote positive workplace deviant behavior in the organization.
ESP community in transition: a study of ICT use in a tertiary context in Saudi Arabia

This research study examines the success of an ESP course as it adopts technology. The context of this study is a public tertiary institution in Saudi Arabia. The focus of discussion in this study is the ICT attitudes and practices of six ESL teachers and an administrator, the changes ICT introduction brought in the ESP teaching and learning environment, and the elements that affect ICT integration in ESP. Methodology needs of this research suggest the recruitment of case study approach. To serve the purpose of case study, two methods of data collection are used: semi-structured interview with the teachers and the administrator and observation of classroom and computer lab lessons. Activity system analysis (Engestrom, 1987) composes the analytical framework for this study. Activity system interpretation of the identified themes delineates several systemic tensions within the culture of ICT use in ESP instruction. Five elements are identified to be significant for the successful transition to ICT in ESP: adequate ICT tools, teachers’ professional development, technical support, funding, and planning.
Self-employment and job generation in metropolitan areas, 1969–2009

Many regional development policy initiatives assume that entrepreneurial activities promote economic growth. Empirical research has presented rationale for this argument showing that small firms create proportionally more new jobs than large firms. However, little research has been performed on the issue of net job generation at the urban level, particularly when self-employment is considered as an indicator of entrepreneurial activities. This paper investigates to what extent US metropolitan areas in the 1969–2009 period characterized by relatively high rates of self-employment also have shown relatively high rates of subsequent total employment growth. The analysis corrects for the influence of sectoral composition, wage level, educational attainment, presence of research universities and size of the metropolitan area to measure the extent to which the number and quality of self-employed in a region contribute to total employment growth. It finds the relationship between self-employment rates and subsequent total employment growth to be positive on average during the 40-year period but to weaken over time.
Crustal shortening at the Sierra Pie de Palo (Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina): near-surface basement folding and thrusting

Abstract The Sierras Pampeanas consist of basement uplifts that are mainly controlled by W-verging crustal thrusts. One of these, the Sierra Pie de Palo, is controlled by a blind thrust whose kinematics is debated. We analysed the reverse faults located along the eastern side of the range and show that these are characterized by small displacements (few hundreds of metres) of the Neogene and Quaternary deposits controlled by the inherited basement metamorphic foliation and shear zones. At the sierra scale, the inherited foliation pattern appears already folded, before the Cenozoic shortening, forming a series of antiforms and synforms with various wavelengths. We propose that this structure is amplified during the Plio-Quaternary shortening, resulting in a large asymmetrical basement-cored anticline where foliation-parallel slip can act as folding mechanism. The overall kinematics is consistent with an E-verging fault-propagation fold; this proposed kinematics is an alternative to the frequently suggested W-verging fault-bend fold model. Finally, we propose a new, alternative and speculative crustal and lithospheric structure for this region consisting of two E-verging basement thrusts coeval to W-verging Pampean thrusts, both rooting below the Precordillera, above an eclogitized lower crust.
Regular swimming before the induction of ulcer ameliorates oxidative gastric damage in rats: The anxiolytic effect of exercise

Amac: Duzenli egzersizin ulserogenez uzerine olan etkisini arastirmaktir. Gerec ve Yontem: Wistar albino sicanlar, sedanter ve egzersiz gruplari olarak ikiye ayrildi. Alti haftalik egzersizin sonunda, anestezi altinda mide serozasina asetik-asit uygulanarak ulser olusturulurken, kontrol gruplarina taklit-cerrahi yapildi. Ulser uygulanmasinin 3. ve 10. gunlerinde, anksiyete duzeyleri belirlendi ve sicanlar dekapite edildi. Serum kortizol seviyeleri olculdu; mide dokusu ornekleri malondialdehit (MDA), glutatyon (GSH), miyeloperoksidaz (MPO), nitrik oksit (NO), luminol-lusigenin problari ile kemiluminesans (KL) olcumleri ve histopatolojik analiz icin alindi. Bulgular: Kontrol gruplarina kiyasla sedanter 3 ve 10 gunluk ulser gruplarinda MPO ve MDA seviyeleri artarken, GSH seviyeleri azaldi. Bu degisiklikler 10 gunluk ulser gruplarinda kontrol duzeylerine dondu. Egzersiz yapan 3 gunluk ulser grubunda tum parametreler tersine dondu. Ulser ile artmis bulunan lusigenin KL duzeyi egzersiz ile baskilanirken NO duzeyi egzersizle anlamli olarak artmis bulundu. Histolojik incelemede egzersiz gruplarinda lezyon skorlari dusuk bulundu. Ulser yapilan sedanter ve egzersiz gruplarinda kortizol seviyeleri arasinda farklilik gorulmedi. Ulsere bagli artan anksiyete, 3 gunluk egzersiz yapan ulser gruplarinda azalirken 10 gunluk ulser grubunda degismedi. Sonuc: Duzenli yuzme egzersizi, dokuya notrofil infiltrasyonunu engellemek, NO yapimini uyarmak ve anksiyeteyi azaltmak yoluyla midede oksidatif hasari hafifletmektedir. Duzenli egzersiz, mide ulserinin gelismesini yavaslatan ve iyilesmesini kolaylastiran bir yaklasim olarak dikkate alinmalidir.
Soil amendment with high and low C/N residue -influence of low soil water content between first and second residue addition on soil respiration, microbial biomass and nutrient availability

Soil water content is a major factor influencing organic matter decomposition. In our previous study, we showed that microbial biomass and nutrient availability after the second residue addition is influenced by the C/N ratio of both the first and the second residue (referred to as legacy effect). Different constant soil water content between the first and second residue addition may influence soil respiration, microbial biomass and nutrient availability and also the legacy effect. A loamy soil was unamended (C), or amended with plant residues with either high (mature wheat straw, H) or low C/N ratio (young faba bean, L) on day (d) 0 and d10, giving treatments CH, CL, HH, HL, LL and LH. Between d0 and d10, the soil was maintained at 10, 30 or 50% of water holding capacity (WHC), on d10, before residue addition, soil water content was adjusted to 50% WHC and maintained at this water content until d20. Cumulative respiration from d1 to d10, MBC and MBN on d1 and available N and P on both d1 and d10 were lower at 10% than at 50% WHC. When L was added on d10, cumulative respiration from d11 to d20, microbial biomass C and N on d11 and available N on d20 were higher in soil kept at 10% WHC in the first 10 days than in that maintained at 50% WHC. The previous water content had little effect on respiration and nutrient availability when H was added on d10. Differences in MBC, MBN, MBP and available N on d11 between HL and LL and between LH and HH were greater when the water content in the first period was 10% WHC compared to 50% WHC. It can be concluded that water content between residue additions influences soil respiration and nutrient availability not only directly, but also after rewetting and residue addition.
Isolating individual handwritten characters

Describes a document reading system incorporating a pre-segmenter. The output from the pre-segmenter is passed into the character recognition stage of the document reader, which attempts classification of the objects between each pair of character boundaries within a joined group of characters. The combination of boundaries which achieves the highest overall confidence level for the whole group of joined characters is chosen to be the correct one. In addition, post-processing may be used to choose between the most likely interpretations of the words. This may simply take the form of a spelling checker correction system, or may be fed back into the earlier stages of the document reading system to request or suggest new segmentation positions or alternative character classifications.
Ultra Structure of Excretory Organ (Kidney) in Juvenile Grouper, Epinephelus coioides

In order to study of kidney tubules, twenty specimen of 45 days old juvenile grouper (Epinephelus coioides) were prepared after proper biometry. Five mm thick sections were removed from the middle and posterior end of the kidney and fixed in Bouin and glutaraldehyde. The routine procedures of preparation of tissues were followed for light and transmission electron microscopic study. In macroscopic observations, it was observed that kidney was located retroperitoneal and attached to the vertebral column with an average length of 4±0.2 Cm. The microscopic results showed that nephrons consisted of glomerules, proximal, distal and collective tubules. The proximal tubules were detectable with their brush border. Distal tubules had cuboidal cells with round nucleus that were positioned in the middle part of the cell. The lumen of these tubules were PAS negative due to lack of brush border. Collecting tubules were also PAS negative as their cuboidal cells lacked brush border and their ellipsoid to round nuclei were positioned central to the cell. TEM analyses of sections showed more details of tubules structure, e.g. plasma membrane showed an extensive system of depressions in all tubules, except in collecting tubules.
ACE gene polymorphism and serum ACE level with Progression of Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Background. One of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) is diabetic nephropathy (DN). Angiotensin- converting enzyme (ACE) gene was the first candidate gene of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) for predisposition to DN.Objective. Investigation whether the ACE insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism is associated with Egyptian type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM) with nephropathy. In addition, the study investigated the relationship between variants of ACE I/D gene polymorphism and serum ACE level and the progression of nephropathy in Egyptian T2DM patients.Methods. A total of 85 T2DM patients (45 with nephropathy and 40 without nephropathy) besides 45 healthy (non-diabetic) age-matched subjects were recruited in this study for comparison. The (I/D) polymorphism of the ACE gene was investigated using PCR and serum ACE levels were determined using ELISA.Results. The frequency of ACE DD genotype and D allele was significantly higher in DN patients when compared to control healthy subjects and diabetic patients without nephropathy. In addition our results showed a significant association between DD genotype of ACE gene and elevated serum ACE level.Conclusion. The present study showing a strong association between the D allele and/or DD homozygous of ACE gene and diabetic patients developed nephropathy. In addition, individuals with D allele have higher levels of serum ACE compared to those having I allele. ACE gene polymorphism and serum ACE level may serve as a susceptibility biomarker for nephropathy in type 2 diabetic patients.
The Welfare Cost of Inflation in General Equilibrium

This paper presents a general equilibrium monetary model in which inflation distorts a variety of marginal decisions. Although individually none of the distortions is very large, they combine to yield substantial welfare cost estimates. A sustained 4% inflation like that experienced in the U.S. since 1983 costs the economy the equivalent of 0.41% of output per year when currency is identified as the relevant definition of money and over 1% of output per year when M1 is defined as money. The results illustrate how the traditional, partial equilibrium approach can seriously underestimate the true cost of inflation.
Real estate and portfolio risk: an analysis based on copula functions

This article examines the risk‐return trade‐off of a mixed‐asset portfolio that includes real estate using copula functions. In particular, it analyses the role of direct as opposed to securitised real estate in terms of diversification when the dependence structure is modelled by an appropriate copula. The empirical analysis is conducted using Swiss data for the period 1987–2003. It is shown that a better portfolio diversification is obtained with indirect than with direct real estate. This finding has important practical consequences for asset allocation decisions.
Population Structure and Historical Demography of the Spotted Mackerel (Scomber australasicus) off Taiwan Inferred from Mitochondrial Control Region Sequencing

Tzong-Der Tzeng (2007) Population structure and historical demography of the spotted mackerel (Scomber australasicus) off Taiwan inferred from mitochondrial control region sequencing. Zoological Studies 46(6): 656- 663. The strong debate as to whether or not the spotted mackerel (Scomber australasicus) off Taiwan is genet- ically structured continues. Sequence analyses of the complete mitochondrial DNA control region (886 bp in length) were conducted to elucidate the population structure and historical demography of spotted mackerel off Taiwan. In total, 157 individuals were separately collected from the East China Sea (ECS), waters off Ilan (ILAN, northeastern Taiwan), Taitung (TT, southeastern Taiwan), and Linyan (LY, southern Taiwan), and the South China Sea (SCS), and 132 haplotypes were obtained. The haplotype diversity (h) was high for all sam- ples (99.6%), with values from 99.1% (ECS) to 99.8% (SCS). Nucleotide diversity (π) was low for all samples (0.70%), with values from 0.61% (LY) to 0.75% (ILAN). A median-joining network of 132 haplotypes revealed no significant phylogeographic structure. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and spatial analysis of mole- cular variance (SAMOVA) indicated no significant heterogeneity. FST values indicated no significant difference in each pairwise combination of these 5 sampled areas except the one between the ECS and SCS samples. These results suggest that spotted mackerel off Taiwan belong to the single gene pool. Both mismatched distri- bution analysis and neutrality tests suggested that spotted mackerel in these waters have experienced popula- tion expansion since the late Pleistocene (approximately between 46,399 and 8,980 yr ago). http://zoolstud.sinica. edu.tw/Journals/46.6/656.pdf
ANOMALIAS DE ONDULACION DEL GEOIDE ISOSTATICO PARA LOS ANDES CENTRALES DE BOLIVIA EN 20° SUR

RESUMEN Se evalúa el estado isostático y el grado de compensación a escala cortical para la banda WE de los Andes de Bolivia centrada en 20° S de latitud. El análisis hace uso de las anomalías de ondulación del geoide derivadas de un modelo geopotencial global, y de las anomalías de gravedad provenientes de datos terrestres. A partir de un modelo de corteza compensado en el concepto de Airy se calculan las ondulaciones geoídicas y anomalías de gravedad predictivas. Las anomalías isostáticas determinadas en forma independiente resultan consistentes, señalando por sus reducidas amplitudes relativas el estado de equilibrio a escala regional, con un alto porcentaje de compensación a niveles corticales.