Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fatigue Performance and Multiscale Mechanisms of Concrete Toughened by Polymers and Waste Rubber

For improving bending toughness and fatigue performance of brittle cement-based composites, two types of water-soluble polymers (such as dispersible latex powder and polyvinyl alcohol powder) and waste tire-rubber powders are added to concrete as admixtures. Multiscale toughening mechanisms of these additions in concretes were comprehensively investigated. Four-point bending fatigue performance of four series concretes is conducted under a stress level of 0.70. The results show that the effects of dispersible latex powder on bending toughness and fatigue life of concrete are better than those of polyvinyl alcohol powder. Furthermore, the bending fatigue lives of concrete simultaneously containing polymers and waste rubber powders are larger than those of concrete with only one type of admixtures. The multiscale physics-chemical mechanisms show that high bonding effect and high elastic modulus of polymer films as well as good elastic property and crack-resistance of waste tire-rubber powders are beneficial for improving bending toughness and fatigue life of cementitious composites.
Virtual Reference Stations for Centimeter-Level Kinematic Positioning

Advanced positioning techniques pre-process the observations of regional reference station n etworks in order to provide individual virtual reference station (VRS) observations. These virtual observations enable users to p erform cm-level positioning in baseline mode, even with the real reference stations s ituated in distances of several 10 km. This paper extends the c oncept of static VRS to that of a semi-kinematic VRS to be used in such cases of kinematic positioning, when the rover r eceiver moves across long distances. Test data sets were used to evaluate the performance of this new kind o f VRS. The results demonstrate its superiority to static VRS in large-scale kinematic applications.
Disagreement in the Norwegian housing market

Do differences of opinion affect house prices? This thesis investigates how disagreement affects house prices and housing turnover. We construct a disagreement index using household’s beliefs on future house price developments. The main contribution of this study is that the household survey captures real expectations in contrast to many similar studies that use analyst forecasts or volatility based measures. This study finds that higher disagreement is significantly associated with lower future house price returns. A one standard deviation increase of disagreement index translates into a 33.8 basis points lower return the following month. The results are robust when controlling for Norges Bank key house price determinants. Granger causality tests indicate that disagreement has a predictive power for house price returns and not vice versa. Disagreement is insignificant in explaining turnover. Overall, our results lends support to predictions of models with disagreement and helps highlight the importance disagreement has in explaining price movements.
Validation of Microstrip Gap Waveguides and Their Transitions to Rectangular Waveguide , for Millimeter-Wave Applications

The paper describes the design methodology, experimental validation and practical considerations of two millimeterwave wideband vertical transitions from two gap waveguide versions (inverted microstrip gap waveguide, and microstrip packaged by using gap waveguide) to standard WR-15 rectangular waveguide. The experimental results show S11 smaller than -10 dB over relative bandwidths larger than 25% and 26.6% when Rogers RO3003 and RO4003 materials are used respectively. The vertical transition from standard microstrip line packaged by a lid of pins to WR-15, shows measured return loss better than 15 dB over 13.8% relative bandwidth. The new transitions can be used as interfaces between gap waveguide feed-networks for 60 GHz antenna systems, testing equipment (like Vector Network Analyzers) and components with WR-15 ports, such as transmitting/receiving amplifiers. Moreover, the paper documents the losses of different gap waveguide prototypes compared to unpackaged microstrip line and Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW). This investigation shows that in V-band the lowest losses are achieved with inverted microstrip gap waveguide.
Modeling Micro Mass and Heat Transfer for Gases Using Extended Continuum Equations

This paper presents recent contributions to the development of macroscopic continuum transport equations for micro gas flows and heat transfers. Within the kinetic theory of gases, a combination of the Chapman-Enskog expansion and the Grad moment method yields the regularized 13-moment equations (R13 equations), which are of high approximation order. In addition, a complete set of boundary conditions can be derived from the boundary conditions of the Boltzmann equation. The R13 equations are linearly stable, and their results for moderate Knudsen numbers stand in excellent agreement with direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method simulations. We give analytical expressions for heat and mass transfer in microchannels. These expressions help to understand the complex interaction of fluid variables in microscale systems. Additionally, we compare interesting analogies such as a mass flux and energy Knudsen paradox. In particular, the R13 model is capable of predicting and explaining the detailed features of Poiseuille microflows.
Monitoring cure and detecting damage in composites with embedded sensors

This paper demonstrates the capability of embedded piezoelectric sensors to monitor the state of health throughout the lifetime of composite structures. Sensors were embedded into ﬁbre reinforced composites and used to monitor the progress of cure during manufacture, and the subsequent damage state of the cured part. The sensors used in this work consist of a single piezoelectric transducer, which is electronically connected to an inductance coil. A probe containing two inductance coils was used to make wireless ultrasonic measurements. When the probe was placed in close proximity to an embedded sensor, the electromagnetic coupling between the coils in probe and the embedded coil, allowed electronic signals to be wirelessly transferred between the transducer and the ultrasonic processing equipment. Two diﬀerent inductively coupled transducer systems (ICTS) were used to monitor cure. A ICTS which generated bulk waves monitored the cure of a thick glass ﬁbre section, and an ICTS which generated guided elastic waves monitored the cure of a large glass ﬁbre plate. To characterise the cure monitoring ability of each ICTS, two established cure monitoring techniques; diﬀerential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dielectric analysis, were used to record measurements during cure. The guided wave ICTS was then used to detect barely visible impact damage (BVID), created by a 10 Joule impact at a distance of 300 mm from the sensor embedded in the large glass ﬁbre plate.
Hydrological response in the Danube lower basin to some internal and external climate forcing factors

Abstract. Of the internal factors, we tested the predictors from the fields of precipitation, temperature, pressure and geopotential at 500hPa. From the external factors, we considered the indices of solar/geomagnetic activity. Our analysis was achieved separately for each season, for two time periods 1901–2000 and 1948–2000. We applied developments in empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs), cross correlations, power spectra, filters, composite maps. In analysis of the correlative results, we took into account, the serial correlation of time series. For the atmospheric variables simultaneously, the most significant results (confidence levels of 95 %) are related to the predictors, considering the difference between standardized temperatures and precipitation (TPP), except for winter season, when the best predictors are the first principal component (PC1) of the precipitation field and the Greenland-Balkan-Oscillation index (GBOI). The GBOI is better predictor for precipitation, in comparison with North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAOI) for the middle and lower Danube basin. The significant results, with the confidence level more than 95 %, were obtained for the PC1-precipitation and TPP during winter/spring, which can be considered good predictors for spring/summer discharge in the Danube lower basin. Simultaneous, the significant signal of geomagnetic index (aa), was obtained for the smoothed data by band pass filter. For the different lags, the atmospheric variables respond to solar/geomagnetic activity after about 2–3 years. The external signals in the terrestrial variables are revealed also by power spectra and composite maps. The power spectra for the terrestrial variables show significant peaks that can be associated with the interannual variability, Quasi-Biennial Oscillation influence and solar/geomagnetic signals. The filtering procedures led to improvement of the correlative analyses between solar or geomagnetic activity and terrestrial variables, under the condition of a rigorous test of the statistical significance.
An Exploratory Study of Herd Behaviour in Vietnamese Stock Market: A New Method

This research examines the presence of herd behavior in Vietnamese Stock Market from 2006 to 2012. Based on two methods suggested by Christie and Huang (1995); and Chang, Cheng, and Khorana (2000), this research work proposes a new probability approach ; that is on market index return and market dispersion to capture herd behavior. This new method enables this study to detect herding in a given trading day. The study adopts daily data from a main center of Vietnamese Stock Market. The existence of herd is found during the whole period as using the statistics methods. To be more concrete, herding days are explored via the new probability method in this work.
Effects of stress on empathy for pain

Bisher wurden Effekte von Stress auf Empathie nur auf Verhaltensebene erforscht. Daher war es das Ziel dieser Masterarbeit herauszufinden, wie sich akuter psychosozialer Stress auf die neuronalen Korrelate von Empathie, erhoben durch ein Schmerzempathie Paradigma, auswirkt. Weiters wurden Effekte von Stress auf prosoziales Verhalten, das wiederholt in Verbindung mit Empathie gebracht wurde, untersucht. Dazu wurden empathische Reaktionen von 74 mannlichen Probanden, die randomisiert der Experimental- und Kontrollgruppe zugeteilt wurden, mittels funktioneller Magnetresonanztomographie (fMRT), sowie Analysen von hormonellen und Verhaltensdaten erhoben. Die Experimentalgruppe unterzog sich dem Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), einem Verfahren zur Stressinduktion durch mathematische Aufgaben, Zeitdruck und soziale Evaluation. Wahrend des Experiments wurden wiederholt Ratings uber subjektiv empfundenen Stress, sowie Cortisol erhoben. Die vorliegende Masterarbeit konnte bestehende, auf Verhaltensdaten basierende Befunde zu auftretenden Tend-And-Befriend-Mustern in mannlichen Individuen mit neuronalen Befunden untermauern. Probanden der Experimentalgruppe wiesen erhohte emotionale Ansteckung, sowie somatosensorische Reprasentation in der schmerzhaften Bedingung (Injektion) auf. Auch nach Erhalt zusatzlicher Information zu den abgebildeten Situationen (Betaubung der abgebildeten Hand wahrend der Prozedur) aktivierten sie eine Vielzahl an Arealen des Schmerzempathie-Netzwerkes, was auf eine automatische Bottom-Up-Generierung affektiver Reaktionen in Folge von Stress hinweist. Erhohte prosoziale Reaktionen in Folge von Stress konnten auch auf Verhaltensebene gefunden werden, wobei sich gestresste Probanden anderen gegenuber groszugiger zeigten. Schlussfolgernd konnte diese Studie als erste zeigen, dass bei Mannern auftretende Tend-And-Befriend-Muster als Reaktion auf Stress nicht nur auf Verhaltensebene festzustellen sind, sondern auch auf neuronaler Ebene gefunden werden konnen. [Multimediabeilage enthalten].
Evaluating Behavioral Intentions of Tourists in e-Tourism

Tourism is one of the major sources of income for many countries and with the advent of internet, using this new channel (internet) for providing different services of tourism, i.e., e-tourism, is growing rapidly. This is also the case in Iran, but it is clear that focusing on technology alone can’t lead the business to success. The key point of successful business in e-tourism is to concentrate on the customers and their behavior for having a better relationship with them. This study is intended to develop a model based on Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) that considers influential factors to predict and evaluate intention of tourists and travelers while using e-tourism services and websites, such as www.expedia. com and www.priceline. com. The influential factors are studied and investigated through a survey with 259 responses. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has also been utilized for testing relevant hypotheses to either include or thwart specific factors which drive people to use e-tourism services provided in e-tourism websites. The results show that “Subjective Norm” and “Perceived Behavioral Control” significantly affect Iranian customer’s intention to use e-tourism (i.e., the websites which offer tourism services). In this research we not only worked on evaluating a model and the relationship between constructs, but also tried to find specific factors that drive people to use e-tourism. So, besides DTPB factors, we found that Curiosity has more effect on tourist intention. The findings have implications for Iranian tourism companies to predict the behavior of tourists when they are using the e-tourism, and also develop the CRM methods in e-tourism websites.
Difference in Degrees: CEO Characteristics and Firm Environmental Disclosure

We contribute to the literature on firms’ responses to institutional pressures and environmental information disclosure. We hypothesize that CEO characteristics such as education and tenure will influence firms’ likelihood to voluntarily disclose environmental information. We test our hypotheses by examining firms’ responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and find that firms led by newly appointed CEOs and CEOs with MBA degrees are more likely to respond to the CDP, while those led by lawyers are less likely to respond. Our results have implications for research on strategic responses to institutional pressures and corporate environmental performance.
Factors determining the success of public private partnership projects in Nigeria

The implementation of public private partnership (PPP) procurement method is expected to help governments in the development of infrastructures and provides an opportunity for the reduction in the governments’ debt profiles. This method has been adopted in Nigeria for more than a decade and with these years of implementation, few infrastructural projects have been developed using this method while some have been unsuccessful. This study aims to examine the PPP projects implementation in Nigeria and identify the most critical factors that could determine the success of such projects. A total of 184 questionnaires were received from public and private sectors’ participants in the implementation of PPP projects. An exploratory factor analysis identified seven critical success factors as projects feedback, leadership focus, risk allocation and economic policy, good governance and political support, short construction period, favourable socio-economic factors, and delivering publicly needed service. This study shows that more developmental projects could be delivered through PPP if the government could focus on these main factors in the implementation process. The result will influence policy development towards PPP and guide the partners in the development of PPP projects.
A new site for Luticola vanheurckii Van de Vijver & Levkov (Bacillariophyta) – the second record from Europe

This paper presents the first record of Luticola vanheurckii Van de Vijver & Levkov, outside of the type locality (second record in the Europe). Authors present habitat characteristic of the species, with LM and SEM micrographs. Luticola vanheurckii was found in a small outflow of water from storm sewers in Stalowa Wola (SE Poland). Luticola vanheurckii occurred only rarely (0–5 valves per slide), in a small, shallow puddle which was supplied by the water from the outflow. This species was recorded in sediments and on plants submerged in water with a wide range of conductivity (347–22,100 μS cm−1), chloride content (64.56–6195.0 mg l−1) and sodium ions (43.04–3789.1 mg l−1). The cells observed in the examined material were slightly longer and wider than those from type locality.
Grouseberry ( Vaccinium scoparium Leiberg ex Coville) fruit production in forest openings in Banff National Park, Alberta

Grouseberry ( Vaccinium scoparium Leiberg ex Coville) is an abundant dwarf shrub in the understory of many areas of subalpine forest in Banff National Park and has the potential to produce fruit important for wildlife. However, the suppression and prevention of wildfires, which began in the early 1900s in the park, have reduced fire-dependent shrubland and open forest and increased the extent of closed, mature forest. Because canopy closure is typically associated with decreased fruit production by understory shrubs, the decline in fire disturbance may be reducing Grouseberry fruit production. To quantify this effect, we measured Grouseberry fruit production under various forest canopies at 10 sites in Banff during 2004–2012. We measured site openness by modeling photosynthetically active direct solar radiation (dPAR) adjusted for overshadowing by topography and coniferous foliage. We found a positive relation between Grouseberry fruit production and dPAR in 2006 and 2010–2012, but not in 2008 or 2009, the 2 years of lowest fruit production; data were lacking for 2004, 2005, and 2007. We also recorded high Grouseberry fruit densities beginning 5 years after fire removed the forest canopy in four prescribed burns conducted during 2001: fruit production was 3.3 to more than 20 times that in adjacent mature forests in 5 of the 6 years analyzed. This study shows the potential ecological benefits of both prescribed burns and wildfire in upper subalpine forests where Grouseberry is widespread, but fruit production is low under the forest canopy.
Euler's characteristics and Pick's theorem

Pick’s Theorem is used to compute the area of lattice polygons. In this paper we present a very general definition of a polygon to obtain the definition of faces and holes of a polygon. The decomposition of a polygon into triangles is briefly discussed. Then lattices are introduced with their corresponding elementary triangles and triangulations. We recall and prove Pick’s Theorem for simple polygons. Then a generalization of Pick’s Theorem is proved for very general lattice polygons, generalized lattice polygons and union of generalized lattice polygons using original and modified Euler’s characteristics. Mathematics Subject Classification: 51M25, 52A38, 52B20
Characterization of Phenolic Profile and Antioxidant Potential of Some Algerian Olive Oils Cultivars

Background: Olive oil is a source of antioxidants and poses positive effects on human health. The objective of this study was firstly to identify and quantify the phenolics of some Algerian olive oils; secondly, the antioxidant activity of the samples was assessed. Methods: The virgin olive oils used in this study were derived from three Algerian cultivars, including Azeradj, Bouchouk, and Chemlal. After preparation of the samples, the phenolic, ortho-diphenol and flavonol contents in addition to phenolic profile were determined. Also, antioxidant capacity, reducing power, and 1,1-diphenyl-2picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity values were analyzed. Statistical analysis of the data was done with Statistica 5.5 Fr. Results: The phenolic contents of analyzed olive oils showed significant differences (p<0.05) between three different cultivars. The total phenolics of the studied cultivars were ranged from 132.8 to 318.9 mg Gallic Acid Equivalents (GAE)/kg. The orthodiphenols contents varied between 13.02 and 31.1 mg caffeic acid equivalents/kg. Also, the total flavonol content was ranged from 6.5 to 13.6 mg quercetin equivalents/kg. On the other hand, significant differences (p<0.05) were found between phenolic profiles and antioxidant activity of the three Algerian olive oil cultivars. Conclusion: Both Chemlal and Azeradj Algerian olive oil cultivars can be considered as appropriate sources of bioactive phytochemicals, which play a major role in human health as free radical scavenger and can replace synthetic antioxidant in the food products. © 2018, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Does Ownership Structure Improve Credit Ratings?

This study seeks to examine the impact of Block Ownership structure on Credit Ratings in OECD countries. This research seeks to contribute to the extant literature by exploring the effects of Corporate Governance (CG) mechanisms on corporate credit ratings. The study uses a panel data of 200 companies from Anglo American and European countries between 2010 and 2014. The ordinary least square regression is used to examine the relationships. Additionally, to alleviate the concern of potential endogeneity, we use fixed effect regression, two-stage least squares using instrumental variables. The results show there is a negative and significant relationship between block ownership and credit ratings, with a greater significance among Anglo American countries than among European countries. The rationale for this is that Anglo-American system gives preferential treatment to individual shareholders and its accounting tradition leads to a decline in risk and increase in credit ratings. The result is consistent with the multi-theoretical framework predictions derived from the agency and stewardship theories. Future research could investigate credit ratings using other credit rating agencies, selecting a larger sample that includes small, mid-size and large companies. This paper extends, as well as contributes to extant CG literature by offering new evidence on the effect of block ownership on credit ratings between two different traditions. This will be explored by employing firm-level CG mechanisms by accounting for control variables. The findings will help regulators and policymakers in OECD countries in evaluating the adequacy of current CG reforms to prevent management misconduct and scandals.
Trade liberalization and credit constraints: Why "opening up" may fail to promote technology adoption

Recent evidence suggests that despite "opening" up a country for trade, the productivity gap often does not close between developed and emerging economies. This paper examines credit constraints as one channel held responsible for hampering convergence. Specifically, we extend a Melitz and Ottaviano (2008) type trade model with variable mark-ups to allow for endogenous technology adoption. We consider a framework with two countries that dier with respect to credit market development. Firms have the option to adopt a more ecient technology by paying some fixed cost that are more dicult to finance for financially constrained firms. A reduction in trade costs raises demand abroad (pro-technology adoption eect)