Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ambient Response Analysis of the Great Belt Bridge

In this paper an ambient response analysis of the Great Belt Bridge is presented. The Great Belt Bridge is one of the largest suspension bridges in the world, and the analysis was carried out in order to investigate the possibilities of estimating reliable damping values from the ambient response due to traffic and wind. The response data were analysed using three different techniques: a non-parametric technique based on Frequency Domain Decomposition (FDD), a parametric technique working on the raw data in time domain, a data driven Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) algorithm and finally a covariance driven SSI technique. In a small frequency band from 0.17-0.30 Hz 5 modes were identified, and the quality of the modal estimates were evaluated based on MAC values on the mode shapes estimates and standard deviations on damping estimates.
Delamination Detection in Concrete Using Disposable Impactors for Excitation

Delamination Detection in Concrete Using Disposable Impactors for Excitation Anjali Patil Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Master of Science Delaminations in concrete bridge decks result primarily from corrosion of the reinforcing bars (or rebar). This corrosion leads to volumetric expansion of the rebar. When the rebar expands, concrete cracks, and there is a localized separation of the concrete cover from the underlying concrete. Impact-echo testing is an effective technique to map delaminations on concrete bridge decks. However, mapping speed is limited by necessary retrieval of the impactor for traditional tests. To achieve higher scanning speeds, it is advantageous to use both a non-contact measurement (air-coupled impact-echo) and disposable-impactor excitation. Disposable impactors have the potential advantage of achieving greater deck scanning speeds because they do not need to be retrieved, and they can also be used with air-coupled measurement systems. This thesis reports impact excitation of concrete using disposable impactors such as water droplets and ice balls. The impact characteristics of these impactors are compared with those of steel balls and chain links. Comparing the acoustic recordings on intact and delaminated concrete surface shows that water droplets and ice balls are able to excite flexural resonant modes associated with delamination defects. The use of water droplets and ice balls for shallow delamination detection in concrete is thus demonstrated.
An agronomic, ecological and economic assessment of site-specific fertilisation

Fertile soils are one of the most valuable non-renewable resources on earth and agricultural production must preserve their natural status without interfering with other ecosystems. At the same time agricultural production must feed the world population of tomorrow with high quality food. Site-specific fertilisation promises to meet both demands, but even after more than a decade since precision agriculture technologies have been available their implementation on farms is low, because they do not satisfy economic returns. Other problems are the efficient capturing of geo-coded soil and crop information and the development of tailor-made algorithms for the variable input of different nutrient sources such as mineral, organic and secondary raw material fertilisers. It was the objective of this contribution to give an overview of agronomic, ecological and economic aspects of site-specific fertilisation.
Is China a Leviathan?

To address the problem why China, as a communist country, moves in the opposite direction when the public sector has undertaken a continuous growth in most Western economies since the World War II, we offer a new approach that the de facto fiscal decentralization curtails government size in transition China in addition to conventional explanations. Meanwhile, this paper tests the Leviathan hypothesis for vertical decentralization, horizontal fragmentation and intergovernmental collusion at central-provincial and provincial-local level. The empirical results not only explain Chinese shrinking government size, but also lend support to Leviathan hypothesis, especially, under the condition of the absence of democratic electoral constraint.
An Evaluation of the Influence of Corn Cob Ash on the Strength Parameters of Lateritic Soils

This paper reports the investigation of Corn Cob Ash as a pozzolan and a stabilizing agent for lateritic soils in road pavement construction. Corn cob feedstock was obtained from Maya, a rural community in the derived savannah agro-ecological zone of South-Western Nigeria, and burnt to ashes of pozzolanic quality. Reddish brown silty clayey sand material, characterized as an A-2-6(3) material and locally recognized as laterites was obtained from a borrow pit in Abeokuta, South-Western Nigeria and subjected to physical characterization tests according to BS 1377: 2000. The soil was subsequently mixed with CCA in varying percentages of 0%, 1.5%, 3%, 4.5%, 6% and 7.5% and the influence of CCA on the soil was determined for Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, Compaction Characteristics, CBR and the Unconfined Compression Test. These tests were repeated on laterite-CCA-cement mix and laterite-cement mix respectively in order to detect any pozzolanicity in CCA when it combines with Portland cement and to compare results with a known soil stabilizing agent. The result shows a similarity in the compaction characteristics of soil-cement, soil-CCA and soil-CCA-cement, in that with increasing addition of binder from 1.5% to 7.5%, Maximum Dry Density progressively declined while the OMC steadily increased. In terms of the strength parameters, the maximum positive impact was observed at 1.5% CCA addition for soil-CCA with a CBR value of 84% and a UCS value of 1.0MN/m2, compared with the control values of 65% and 0.4MN/m2 respectively. For the soil-CCA-cement mix, the strength parameters CBR and UCS continued to increase with increasing binder addition within the tested range for the ratios 1:2 and 1:1 and 2:1 CCA:cement. Significantly, the results from the soil-CCA-cement mix, indicate the pozzolanicity of CCA in that UCS values were higher by at least 14% for the 1:1 ratio, than was attained with the addition of only the corresponding quantity of cement. Keywords : Corn Cob Ash, pozzolan, CBR, UCS, biomass waste, road pavement.
Oracally efficient estimation and consistent model selection for auto‐regressive moving average time series with trend

Most time series that are encountered in practice contain non‐zero trend, yet textbook approaches to time series analysis are typically focused on zero‐mean stationary auto‐regressive moving average (ARMA) processes. Trend is often estimated by ad hoc methods and subtracted from time series, and the residuals are used as the true ARMA noise for data analysis and inference, including parameter estimation, lag selection and prediction. We propose a theoretically justified two‐step method to analyse time series consisting of a smooth trend function and ARMA error term, which is computationally efficient and easy for practitioners to implement. The trend is estimated by B‐spline regression, and the maximum likelihood estimator based on residuals is shown to be oracally efficient in the sense that it is asymptotically as efficient as if the true trend function were known and then removed to obtain the ARMA errors. In addition, consistency of the Bayesian information criterion for model selection is established for the detrended residual sequence. Finite sample performance of the procedure is illustrated by simulation studies and real data analysis.
The Efficacy of the Adaptive Mentorship © Model

In this article the authors describe the Adaptive Mentorship? (AM) model that they designed, applied, and refined during the past two decades. They developed AM to be used within a variety of management, mentorship, coaching, supervisory, or training programs. After employing and researching it within educational settings, they received a federal grant to disseminate the model to a wider audience across the professional and occupational landscape and to investigate its effects. The researchers summarize the results of that experience, including their recent analysis of the judgments of several panels of experts regarding the efficacy of AM model. The authors present these findings for the consideration of practitioners, scholars, and researchers in any field interested in improving the mentorship offered in their own
Nutritional composition of browse and diets fed to ungulates at the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife

Captive browsing ruminants are particularly susceptible to gastrointestinal disorders, and inappropriate diets are an underlying factor. This study investigated the nutritional composition of browse and pelleted feedstuffs used in an Arabian facility and compared nutrient intake against current recommendations for exotic ungulates. Additionally, retrospective evaluation of post-mortem findings with regard to gastrointestinal pathologies was conducted (n = 497). Samples of browse from seven species of locally cultivated plants, as well as three brands of pelleted feeds, were submitted for laboratory analysis. Following a five-day feed intake study, nutrient intake was calculated. Only moderate variation was seen among browse species’ composition compared to previous reports. However, significant variation occurred between plant fractions (stem, leaves and seed pods) for neutral detergent fibre and several minerals. Browse comprised over half of the metabolisable energy (ME) intake of Arabian tahr ( Arabitragus jayakari ), but only 11% of ME for Arabian gazelle ( Gazella gazella cora ) and Dorcas gazelle ( G. gazella dorcas ). However, no relationship could be detected between gastrointestinal disease and browse provision in these species. No nutrient deficiencies were identified, but the Arabian tahr diet exceeded the recommended amount of crude protein, and both gazelle diets provided excess iron, manganese, copper and zinc. These mineral excesses are the subject of on-going investigations in order to better balance the diets offered. Moreover, the high starch content of pelleted diets evaluated in the current study (22–29%, on a dry matter basis) indicates that a reduction in the proportional provision of pellets would improve the diet suitability, particularly for the gazelles. This study highlights a number of areas for potential improvement, although further research is required to fully understand the implications of these findings.
PERCEIVED FAIRNESS IN ISLAMIC HOME FINANCING: COMPARISON BETWEEN AL-BAY’BITHAMANAJIL AND MUSHARAKAH MUTANAQISAH PARTNERSHIP CONTRACTS

While many see housing sector as a commodity, there are still many people in Malaysia who fail to own homes and many are forced to rent or stay away from urban areas. This paper aims to provide information and disclosure of available loan opportunities for house purchases in Malaysia. Apart from the importance among buyers, it is also seen as important from the perspective of property valuers and professionals involved in housing industry. This study compares the perceive fairness between three types of home financing that are available in Malaysia, namely conventional home loan, al-bay’ bithaman ajil, and musharakah mutanaqisah partnership (MMP) contracts among the customers in Malaysia. The study conducts a survey among 100 respondents to examine the relationship between customer intentions to use Islamic home financing based of MMP. The study concludes that the MMP has several advantages and cheaper over the BBA for the customer. Apart from being unanimity Shari’ah-compliant, it can be made to keep away from interest completely by means of practicing rental or house price index at the same time as reducing the cost of homes and the duration of financing. This paper concludes by suggesting recommendations for the appropriate actions to address the issues and challenges facing the MMP home finance products and deregulate BBA in Malaysia.
Prevalence, financial impact and public health significance of Cysticercus bovis at Bahir Dar Municipal Abattoir, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 to determine the prevalence of cysticercosis, asses the associated risk factors and public health importance of human taniasis at Bahir Dar municipal abattoir, Bahir Dar town. Active abattoir survey from local zebu cattle presented to Bahir Dar abattoir and questionnaire surveys data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Out of 480 inspected animals, 20 animals had varying number of Cysticercus bovis with prevalence of 4.2% (20/480). Cyst distribution per organs were; tongue 12/20 (2.5%), shoulder 10/20 (2.08%), masseter muscle 7/20 (1.46%), heart 4/20 (0.8%) and liver 1/20(0.21%). From the total number of 119 C. bovis collected from the infected 20 cattle during the study period, 73 (61.3%) were found to be alive while the rest 46 (38.7%) were degenerative cysts. Cysticercosis prevalence showed that there was no statistically difference among age groups and body condition score with the occurrence of C. bovis (p>0.05). Of the total 69 interviewed respondents, 30.4% (21/69) had contracted Taenia saginata infection. The prevalence of taeniosis showed significant difference (p 0.05). The findings of this study indicated the importance of bovine cysticercosis and taeniosis in the study area. Therefore, attention should be given to the public awareness and routine meat inspection to be safe to public health and promote meat industry in the country Key words: Abattoir, Bahir dar, Cysticercus bovis, prevalence, public health.
ICT, Human Capital and TFP in Malaysia: A Statistical Approach

This paper finds that the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Malaysian economic growth is the highest at an average of 13 percent for the period 1966 to 2005 against 4.7 percent for Total Factor Productivity (TFP), 9.7 percent for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 9.6 percent for capital, and 3.0 percent for labour. The decomposition of human capital growth indicates that the contribution for ICT intensity at 14 percent is highest in the sub-period of 1987 to 2005, while TFP is 2.1 percent, output-human capital ratio is 6.6 percent, capital intensity is 6.1 percent, and labour productivity is 3.4 percent. This suggests that Malaysia's ICT commitments are significant to the development of human capital in Malaysia. However, the results for TFP suggests that Malaysia's productivity is input driven, thus indicating that the policies and programmes to increase the rate of TFP have been unsuccessful.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM): A Case Study of Zimbabwe’s Educational Approach to Industrialisation

One of the fundamental pre-requisites for Industrialisation is its stupendous availability, in a country ofskilled-manpower. In this regard, Zimbabwe has sought to leverage human resources, such as these, in order toaccelerate the process of socio-economic transformation. In March 2012, for example, the Government of Zimbabwe(GoZ) pronounced the ‘Second Science, Technology and Innovation Policy’ framework, which provided the twoMinistries of Primary and Secondary Education and Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and TechnologyDevelopment with the opportunity to implement the relevant spellings out of that policy document. The formerlaunched an update review of the national curriculum, in 2014, which culminated, in the crafting of the ZimbabweEducation Blueprint (2015-2022). That education-design plan has many facets. Chief among them is a deliberateemphasis on the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, subjects that are now knownpopularly by the acronym ‘STEM’. Classroom instruction, in those disciplines is meant to empower students with thecutting-edge skills that should see them participate actively, in both the local and global economies. The latterMinistry has rolled out the new STEM curriculum at the Advanced level, in January 2016. Through documentationanalysis, this paper, therefore, attempts to unpack the new curricular innovation (STEM), that Zimbabwe has devisedmost recently as one of her very best policy strategies towards achieving industrial development, in the foreseeablefuture.
Assessing the performance of computational methods for the prediction of the ground state structure of a cyclic decapeptide

We benchmark the performance of various computational approaches, ranging from the classical nonpolarizable force fields AMBER FF96 and FF99SB, the polarizable force fields AMBER FF02polEP and AMOEBAbio09 to the semiempirical DFT method SCC-DFTB. The test set consists of nine conformations of gas-phase protonated gramicidin S, a cyclic decapeptide. We discuss their structural features in relation to the intrinsic lowest energy structure, which has been solved recently by a combination of cold ion spectroscopy and high level theoretical methods (Nagornova et al., Angew Chem Int Ed 2011, 50, 5383). As a reference, we use the energetics at the M05-2X level of theory. The latter has been validated as a suitable reference method in predicting the correct ground state structure of gas-phase protonated bare and microsolvated tryptophan as well as gas-phase protonated gramicidin S by comparison to experiment. We discuss the performance of the different more approximate methods in relation to their potential use as efficient and reliable tools to explore conformational space for the generation of candidate structures before refinement at the DFT level.
The Influence of Transformational Leadership Behaviours on Organizational Commitment in Omani Governmental Organizations

Public organizations all over the world have to confront renewed challenges and obstacles to meet citizens’ needs. Indeed, Omani organizations are required to have leadership behaviours that clearly encourage and foster subordinates’ performance by enhancing employees' commitment. The aim of this paper is to explore the influence of transformational leadership on organizational commitment in Omani public organizations. The quantitative data was collected through survey instrument. The current research utilized AMOS to investigate the measurement model and test the proposed hypothesised relationship between the constructs. The population for this study consisted of Omani public organization that apply civil service law. The sample consists of 336 middle managers in Omani public organizations. The results found that transformational leadership play a pivotal role in enhancing organizational commitment. Specifically, core transformational leadership has a direct impact on all organizational commitment dimensions (affective, normative, and continuance). Whereas, providing individualized support, intellectual stimulation, and setting high performance expectation have a direct impact on both continuance and normative commitment.
Triggering knowledge sharing via CRM IT

Disclaimer This document contains a student thesis (bachelor's or master's), as authored by a student at Eindhoven University of Technology. Student theses are made available in the TU/e repository upon obtaining the required degree. The grade received is not published on the document as presented in the repository. The required complexity or quality of research of student theses may vary by program, and the required minimum study period may vary in duration.
The Evaluation of Cultural Differences on the Identity of the Window Display: The Case Study of the Perception of British and Thai Consumers

Window display is a marketing tool for products presentation and sale promotion as well as product image promotion. There are some researches that tried to describe relationship between consumer behavior and window display design by using marketing concept and psychologically acknowledge but they are not involve to cross culture. However, consumer’s perception depends on their background, experience and cultural factor. Our research attempts to evaluate the cross culture consumer perception on window display identity; case study on the Thai and British. The study based on cross cultural perception, environmental psychology and design elements of shop window display concept. The photograph of shop window display and questionnaire were used for the research tools. Finally, the research found that Thai and British view the design of window display as a whole as well as its light, colour, composition and theme’s concept are the design elements that work as the stimulus to consumers. The consumer’s perception was described by 13 bi-polar words. Factor analysis was used to group and reduce variables. The new variables were pleasant/unpleasant and arousing/not arousing that were used for creates a model that describe the consumer feeling on window display identity.
Residue-free plasma etching of polyimide coatings for small pitch vias with improved step coverage

The authors have found that patterning polyimide coatings containing organosilane adhesion promoter using pure oxygen plasma resulted in a thin silicon-rich residue layer. They show in this paper that adding small amounts of fluorine-containing gas to the etching gas mixture is necessary in order to achieve residue-free polyimide plasma etching. They report residue-free plasma etching of polyimide coatings with both isotropic and anisotropic profiles, using either metal or oxide hard masks. These etching methods are however not sufficient for the fabrication of high density metal filled vias in 10 μm thick polyimide coatings. In order to improve the metal step coverage over the vias while keeping the pitch as small as possible, the authors have developed a two-step etching recipe combining both isotropic and anisotropic profiles, resulting in wine-glass shaped vias.
Height distribution of the power of 3-min oscillations over sunspots

Context. The height structure of 3-min oscillations over sunspots is studied in the context of the recently discovered effect of height inversion: over the umbra, the spatial location of the maximum of chromospheric 3-min oscillation power corresponds to the relative decrease in the power of photospheric oscillations. Aims. We investigate whether the height inversion of the power of 3-min oscillations is a common feature of the spatial structure of the oscillations for the majority of sunspots. Methods. Spectrogram sequences of Hα 6563 A and Fe i 6569 A over sunspots, acquired with very high cadency (about 2 s or better) are obtained. The distribution of the oscillation power of the line-of-sight velocity signal is studied by using methods of wavelet frequency filtration and Fourier analysis. Results. The effect of the height inversion is found in 9 of 11 analyzed active regions. The interpretation of this effect is possibly connected to both the decrease in the level of photosphere in sunspot umbrae and the magnetic field topology.
Family impact on capital structure: does financial crisis matter?

This study analyses whether family control impacts the firm’s capital structure and if results are influenced by financial turbulences. Using a sample of Portuguese listed firms during fourteen years, results show that family and-non family firms have different debt levels in periods of expansion. Moreover, the higher concentration of family ownership leads to reduction in the firm’s leverage, especially in recession periods. These results confirm the behavioural-agency theory: the family looks to socio-emotional wealth but assuring the firm presence for future generations.