Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vertical Electrical Impedance Measurements on Concrete Bridge Decks Using a Large-Area Electrode

Vertical Electrical Impedance Measurements on Concrete Bridge Decks Using a Large-Area Electrode Jeffrey David Barton Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Master of Science In regions where chloride-based deicing salts are applied to bridge decks, corrosion of the interior steel reinforcement is a major problem. Vertical electrical impedance (VEI) is an effective measurement technique to quantitatively assess the cover protection on bridges against aggressive chemical penetration of reinforced concrete. In its current form, traditional vertical electrical impedance is time-consuming and destructive because a direct connection to the reinforcing steel is required to provide a ground reference. A new method using a large-area electrode (LAE) permits VEI measurement without a direct electrical connection to the steel reinforcement. The LAE creates a nondestructive, semi-direct, low impedance connection between the measurement electronics and the reinforcing steel. In this work, numerical simulations are performed on common electrode arrangements to demonstrate the effectiveness of the LAE when significant variations in concrete conductivity exist. Physical experiments of a large-area electrode are carried out in the laboratory and field to validate the numerical simulations and to provide additional comparisons with the traditional tapped steel reinforcement method. The results of this study are a set of important design considerations for VEI utilizing a LAE to connect to the underlying rebar. Using these design considerations, the large-area electrode method was validated using both an analytical and a finite-element model, laboratory experiments, and field experiments on two bridges in Utah. The validation results indicate the LAE can replace the direct connection to the reinforcing steel. As a result of this work, a multichannel VEI scanner which uses the LAE method was built which can provide VEI information for bridge engineers and managers to better rehabilitate deteriorating reinforced concrete.
Afrikaans Theatre: a centre moving?

Critics such as Brydon (1984) have suggested a postcolonial, counter discursive interpretation of William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. The existence of three stages of colonisation is confirmed even by a superficial reading of the text. During the first stage Sycorax, a witch, is left on an island with child by passing sailors. Her son, Caliban, '[a] freckled whelp hag-born-not honour'd with/[a] human shape' (Act 1, Scene 2), is born on the island. An airy spirit called Ariel serves her but because he refused to obey her repulsive commands she fixed him into a cloven pine. The second phase commences after Sycorax had died and Prospero and Miranda have landed on the island. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan whom his brother Antonio had replaced and then put to sea to die with his daughter. He reaches and occupies the island, releases Ariel from Sycorax's spell and subjugates Caliban as his slave. During a storm a ship with friends and enemies aboard perishes nearby. Prospero reveals himself to the shipwrecked persons as the true Duke, after which the colonisers return to Europe aboard the repaired vessel.
Evaluation of inoculum potential of pathogens in seeds: relation to physiological quality and DNA quantification by qPCR

Given what is already known in regard to seed health and the availability of molecular methods for detection of the pathogens Stenocarpella maydis and Stenocarpella macrospora in maize seeds, Colletotrichum gossypii var. cephalosporioides in cotton seeds, and Corynespora cassiicola in soybean seeds, the aim of this study was to evaluate seed vigor according to different inoculum potentials. The fungus isolates were inoculated on seeds by the technique of water restriction, through which different inoculum potentials are obtained, corresponding to times of seed exposure of 0, 24, 48, and 96 hours for maize and cotton seeds, and 0, 36, 108, and 144 hours for soybean seeds. The seeds were subjected to germination, electrical conductivity, health, and qPCR tests. Results of the blotter test showed that in most pathosystems, there was a higher incidence of the fungi with an increase in inoculum potential. A decrease in germination percentage was observed in all species as inoculum potential increased, as well as further degradation of seed membranes. The qPCR test confirmed that the most damaged seeds in the tests had higher presence of the pathogens.
Effect of Nutritional Supplementation and Anabolic Androgen with Testosterone on Kidney and Liver Function of Athletes in Baghdad City

This research was conducted to explore the impact of hormones and protein supplementabuseon liver and kidney function and some physiological parameters of athletes. Twenty four volunteers were split equally into two groups, group A: athletes who used androgenic hormones for more than six month, group B: athletes who used proteins and group C: eight volunteers male are normal control without use of any hormones or nutritional supplementation. This research studied intake effect on serum urea, creatinine, total protein, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline aminotransferase (ALT), sodium, potassium and calcium in the three groups. Results showed a significant elevate (P<0.05) in the level of urea, creatinine, AST and ALT for group A and B compared with the control group, but total protein was lower in group A and control group compared with group B. Furthermore, sodium significantly (P<0.05) decreased in group A and group B compared with control group, on the contrary potassium level and the calcium were significantly decreased in control group compared with group A&B. Keywords: Nutritional supplementation, Anabolic Androgen with testosterone, Kidney, Liver.
The Role of Market Price-Weight Relationships in Optimal Beef Cattle Backgrounding Programs

Approaches to the formulation of optimal beef cattle management programs have changed significantly since they were first examined in a linear programming context in the 1950s. Models were originally designed to identify feed rations which minimize the cost of providing minimum levels of energy and selected nutrients. Subsequent efforts sought to maximize overall farm or feedlot profits, including identification of optimal feeding weights, daily gains, and ration formulations (Kearl, Harris, and Fonnesbeck; Ladd and Williams). The studies varied in attention to such details as number of head fed, variety of alternative feeds, seasonality factors, animal characteristics, and the manner in which energy requirements and appetite are modeled Wilson, and others cast the California net.
Rational Truth-Avoidance and Self-Esteem

We assume that people have beliefs about their abilities, that these generate self-esteem, and that self-esteem is valued intrinsically. Individuals face two choices; one of which strictly dominates the other in a pecuniary sense, but necessarily involves gathering information concerning one's (unobserved) ability. We lay out the circumstances under which an individual may find it rational to reject the dominant choice; an act which, in social psychology is described as avoiding the situation, but which we label truth-avoidance. We find that the incentive to avoid the truth is increasing in income and decreasing in self-esteem, the perceived accuracy of one's self-assessment, and the role which luck plays in generating opportunities.
Relationship Between Sustainable Financial Services and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria. Evidence from Error Correction Model

The inflexibility of poverty is being met with increasing impatience from governments of diverse ideologies, donors and other international agencies. Recent data compilations show that many poor and non-poor people in many developing countries face a high degree of financial exclusion and high barriers in access to finance. Therefore, financial inclusion plays a critical role in reducing poverty. Hence, this paper examines the relationship between sustainable financial services and poverty reduction in Nigeria from 1965 - 2010 using Error Correction Model (ECM). It was observed that total value prime lending rate, financial savings, credit to private sector and rate of inflation all have significant impact on the financial deepening. In the final analysis, the study concludes that financial inclusion tends to strengthen financial deepening and provide resources to the banks to expand credit delivery thereby leading to financial development. The study therefore recommends that these findings, in turn, will inform the policy makers and stakeholders to build more inclusive financial systems.
Interactions in Online Forums: A Case Study Among First-Year Undergraduate Students

In online communities of learners, interactionsareessentialfor building knowledge. Cognitive interactions assist the learning of concepts and principles, while social interactions engage and motivate learners. Howeverin instructional activities,most of the timethe acquisition of factual knowledge is stressed upon, and not the interactions. In this study, theonline communications of students in their first semester of an undergraduate course, Computers in Counseling, were investigated to determine the types of interactions that took placeduring the online discussions, and whether these discussionscontributed to knowledge- building.The30 undergraduatestudents participated in an online discussion forum, posting their responses to the questions given. Content analysis of the transcripts of their online communications was done to classify the types of interactions. This was followed by a survey of the students' perceptions of discussion forums for learning. The findings showed that a large proportion of the interactions wascognitiveinteractions (46.0%), followed by attitudes (22.3%),socialinteractions(19.6%) and noise (5.3%). The students perceived that discussion forums were effective for collaborative learning (60.0%) and enabled ICT and communication skills (16.7% each), as well as self-regulated learning skills (13.3%) to be developed. The analysis of the open-ended responses indicated that it was perceived as useful for the construction of knowledge. This study is significant as it shows that interactions on online communication tools should be encouraged for collaboration and sharingof ideas for learning.
Recent Progress in Biomimetic Flow Control

The biomimetic engineering is a scientific discipline of implementing nature-inspired ideas to engineering systems for their performance enhancement (Choi et al., 2012). Based on the premise that the features of living organisms are potentially optimal solutions for their survival and reproduction, the flow-control society has shown much interest in applying plantand animal-based solutions to the development of novel concepts or techniques for successful flow control. One of the well-known examples of successful biomimetic flow control is the skin-friction reduction by use of smart surfaces, called riblets, inspired by the skin texture of a fast-swimming shark (Walsh, 1982).
Quantifying the Climate Impact of Global and European Transport Systems (QUANTIFY): A Review of the Study of Ship Tracks

This document is a review of the current state of knowledge regarding the study of ship tracks. Atmospheric aerosol particles are known to have a significant impact on Earth’s climate. Of all anthropogenic sources, ship-stack effluents provide the clearest demonstration of the indirect aerosol effect on cloud albedo. Ships are believed to modify cloud microphysics by adding cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) to a developing or existing cloud. These create lines of larger reflectance in cloud fields that are observed in satellite imagery. Ship tracks are most frequently seen off the west coast of California, and the Atlantic coast of both west Africa and south-western Europe. The most comprehensive study of the ship track phenomenon to date, was the Monterey Area Ship Track (MAST) experiment conducted off the coast of California in June 1994. The MAST experiment concluded that if the ambient or background cloud was of continental influence (and thus contained a higher typical CCN concentration than for clean maritime) the cloud was found to be relatively insensitive to further aerosol emissions, with only a weak microphysics signature in the ship tracks. However, if the background clouds were pristine maritime stratiform then changes in droplet concentration of a factor of 2, and changes in droplet size of up to 50 % were measured. Ship track measurements have yielded strong hints, but not clear evidence, that precipitation is affected by exhaust from ships. For example during MAST aircraft measurements showed reductions in drizzle flux and concentrations of drops > 50 μm radius in ship tracks when drizzle was more uniformly present in the ambient cloud. The formation of ship tracks is dependent on a combination of ship-produced CCN and environmental conditions such as droplet concentration and optical thickness of pre-existing clouds, as well as wind speed, updraft velocity and turbulence structure in the marine boundary layer. The factors involved have a complex interaction, and ship track formation is an ongoing area of research in which a unified theory has not yet been reached. Ship tracks represent a microcosm for what is slowly occurring in the atmosphere. There are many advantages to studying ship tracks as a particular manifestation of the more general problem of the influence of anthropogenic pollution on cloud albedo.
MOBIUS: Model-Oblivious Binarized Neural Networks

A privacy-preserving framework in which a computational resource provider receives encrypted data from a client and returns prediction results without decrypting the data, i.e., oblivious neural network or encrypted prediction, has been studied in machine learning. In this work, we introduce and explore a new problem called the model-oblivious problem, where a trainer can delegate a protected model to a resource provider without revealing the original model itself to the resource provider. The resource provider can then offer prediction on a client’s input data, which is additionally kept private from the resource provider. To solve this problem, we present MOBIUS (Model-Oblivious BInary neUral networkS), a new system that combines Binarized Neural Networks (BNNs) and secure computation based on secret sharing as tools for scalable and fast privacy-preserving machine learning. BNNs improve computational performance by binarizing values in training to −1 and +1, while secure computation based on secret sharing provides fast and various computations under encrypted forms via modulo operations with a short bit length. However, combining these tools is not trivial because their operations have different algebraic structures. MOBIUS uses improved procedures of BNNs and secure computation that have compatible algebraic structures without downgrading prediction accuracy. We present an implementation of MOBIUS in C++ using the ABY library (NDSS 2015). Then, we conduct experiments using several datasets, including the MNIST, Cancer, and Diabetes datasets, and the results show that MOBIUS outperforms SecureML (IEEE S&P 2017), which is the only other work that can potentially tackle the model-oblivious problem, in terms of both accuracy and computational time. Compared with TAPAS (ICML 2018) as a state-of-the-art BNN-based system, MOBIUS is three orders of magnitude faster without downgrading the accuracy despite solving the model-oblivious problem.
Extraction and processing of Bast fibres from Ficus glomerata- A new source for non- conventional fibres

The increasing global preference towards the natural products rather than synthetic products has increased the attraction of tourists to the local markets. Ficus glomerata fibres is one of the suitable source as raw material for making natural products like carrier bags, baskets, belts and some handicraft items. Fibres from F. glomerata stems were extracted by using water retting method. After retting, the fibres were scoured using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for making them suitable to form the different produucts from the processed fibres such as yarn, nonwoven, woven and knitted fabrics. Scouring conditions such as chemical concentration and processing time were evaluated on the basis of physical properties of fibres such as tenacity, elongation and fineness. The optimization results obtained from testing of physical properties of fibres shows that, the 3% concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 60 minutes processing time was found promising for the treatment of fibres. The improvement in F. glomerata fibres through proper processing can yield value added fibres and thus can enhance the potential utility of these fibres in diversified sectors. So, the F. glomaerata fibres has a potential to provide an important role in making space for natural fibre products in the outside market.
Update on the Targeted Therapy of the Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer was considered as immunogenic cancer many years ago since the detected response to BCG instillation in the bladder. Recently, utilization of check point inhibitors in malignancies is the new era in cancer immunotherapy. This novel treatment is now approved for melanomas, however in bladder cancer still in the starting phase with promising results. Many trials have been started to investigate the role of check point inhibitors in non-muscle invasive and in metastatic bladder cancer. Many efforts at the pre-clinical level suggested a role for steroid hormones in bladder cancer pathogenesis, however no available prospective data on the role of hormonal therapy in bladder cancer. In this short review we present the updates on checkpoint inhibitors in the bladder cancer and the suggested role for hormonal therapy in the future.
A review of drivers of tree diversity in suburban areas: Research needs for North American cities

Tree diversity is crucial to urban forest management. More diverse urban forests provide habitat for a wider range of organisms, increase resilience to pests and disease and, in cases where native tree species are well represented, contribute to local biodiversity protection. Studies have shown that tree diversity can peak in the low- to mid-density neighbourhoods found in suburban and peri-urban areas, emphasizing the potential for biodiversity enhancement during and after subdivision development. Most studies quantifying tree species composition in suburban areas focus on one or two major drivers of tree diversity, such as land use, socioeconomics and demographics, or the presence of natural features like parks or greenways. Furthermore, relatively little attention has been paid to the drivers of diversity for the variety of land types that make up the entire urban forest, which represent differences in tree planting and establishment practices, ownership, and maintenance. This paper presents an overvie.
On solution of partial differential equations by the Hahn-Banach theorem

Abstract : A means of construction is presented for the Green's and Neuman n's functions of a linear ellipitc partial differential equation by a method based on linear functionals. The construction depends essentially on the Hahn-Banach extension theorem (Theorle des Operations Lineaires, Warsaw, 1932) which was used in a similar connection by Lax (Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 3:526-531, 1952). Lax's approach differs in that, while his proof centers about a bounded linear functional based on inhomogeneous boundary conditions, this proof centers about a functional based on the solution of an inhomogeneous differential equation. This latter point of view has the advantage that in constructing the Green's and Neumann's functions only a fundamental solution of the differential equation is needed in specific instances, and success is possible with merely a parametrix. These considerations are also advantageous for domains with general boundaries and for Riemannian manifolds. The proof of the Hahn-Banach theorem in the form used does not require transfinite induction, since the Banach space of continous functions is separable.
Evaluation of patterns and predictors of off-label prescribing of antidepressants in psychiatry at a tertiary care hospital - An analytical cross-sectional study

Background: Off-label drug prescribing is commonly seen all medical fields including psychiatry. A regular auditing and publishing of off-label drug prescribing is important as it provides strong scientific evidence for the clinicians on the effectiveness and acceptability of these proposed treatments. Aims and Objective: To evaluate the pattern and predictors of off-label prescribing of antidepressants in psychiatry was taken up. Materials and Methods: After obtaining the permission from Institutional Ethics Committee, an analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among patients attending psychiatry outpatient department for 6 months. Demographic and drug data were noted and analyzed for off-label drug use as per Food Drug Administration approved indication. Chi-square test and Students t-test were used to compare the off-label and approved indication groups. Multivariate binary logistic regression model was used to determine the predictors of offlabel prescribing. Results: A total of 238 antidepressants were prescribed for 200 patients, of which 42.8% were used for off-label indication. Fluoxetine 44.1% and escitalopram 42.1% were the most frequently prescribed antidepressants in offlabel manner. The off label indications noted was somatoform disorder (12.5%), followed by generalized anxiety disorder (8.5%). There was significant causal association between off-label prescribing and number of antidepressant (odds ratio [OR] - 15.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] - 3.49-89.02, P < 0.05) and non-depressant use (OR - 74.37, 95% CI - 25.4-293.71, P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Off-label use of antidepressants was 42.8% in this study. A number of antidepressants and non-depressant uses were the significant predictors of off-label prescribing in our hospital.