Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time‐dependent compaction band formation in sandstone

Compaction bands in sandstone are laterally extensive planar deformation features that are characterized by lower porosity and permeability than the surrounding host rock. As a result, this form of localization has important implications for both strain partitioning and fluid flow in the Earth's upper crust. To better understand the time dependency of compaction band growth, we performed triaxial deformation experiments on water‐saturated Bleurswiller sandstone (initial porosity = 0.24) under constant stress (creep) conditions in the compactant regime. Our experiments show that inelastic strain accumulates at a constant stress in the compactant regime, manifest as compaction bands. While creep in the dilatant regime is characterized by an increase in porosity and, ultimately, an acceleration in axial strain rate to shear failure, compaction creep is characterized by a reduction in porosity and a gradual deceleration in axial strain rate. The global decrease in the rates of axial strain, acoustic emission energy, and porosity change during creep compaction is punctuated at intervals by higher rate excursions, interpreted as the formation of compaction bands. The growth rate of compaction bands formed during creep is lower as the applied differential stress, and hence, background creep strain rate, is decreased. However, the inelastic strain associated with the growth of a compaction band remains constant over strain rates spanning several orders of magnitude (from 10−8 to 10−5 s−1). We find that despite the large differences in strain rate and growth rate (from both creep and constant strain rate experiments), the characteristics (geometry and thickness) of the compaction bands remain essentially the same. Several lines of evidence, notably the similarity between the differential stress dependence of creep strain rate in the dilatant and compactant regimes, suggest that as for dilatant creep, subcritical stress corrosion cracking is the mechanism responsible for compactant creep in our experiments. Our study highlights that stress corrosion is an important mechanism in the time‐dependent porosity loss, subsidence, and permeability reduction of sandstone reservoirs.
Diagnosis and management of subdural hematoma: a review of recent literature

Subdural hematomas are relatively commonly encountered cases that always face neurosurgeons. Incidence and prevalence of subdural hematomas have been increasing lately, with this increase being more prominent in older individuals that could reach 80 cases per 100,000 person-years. Generally, males have a higher incidence and prevalence of subdural hematomas than females, and it is estimated that about 20% of subdural hematomas in males are bilateral at presentation. Although incidence in younger populations is less than older populations, infants and toddlers have a relatively higher incidence when they are compared to other age groups, with an incidence that can reach 40 per 100,000 person-years. Etiologies of these cases in infants and toddlers could be attributed to causes different than other age groups. These etiologies could include ABSTRACT
Explaining Cross-National Variations in Tax Morality in the European Union: An Exploratory Analysis

The aim of this paper is to conduct an exploratory analysis of factors that might explain the cross-national variations in the level tax morality across the European Union. In order to do this, three competing explanations for the cross-national variations in tax morality will be evaluated which variously view lower levels of tax morality to be a result of either: under-development (a modernisation explanation); high taxes, state corruption and too much state interference (a neo-liberal explanation), or too little state redistribution and intervention to protect citizens (a structuralist explanation). Evaluating the cross-national variations in tax morality reported in a 2007 Eurobarometer survey using multilevel econometric techniques, the finding is that the tax morality of a baseline European citizen is higher in more developed and less corrupt nations and in countries with higher levels of taxation, social protection and redistribution. The outcome is a call for a synthesis of the three explanations in the form of a new neo-modernisation explanation which, contrary to neo-liberal discourse, argues that developed nations with higher levels of taxation, greater levels of social protection and higher levels of redistribution have higher levels of tax morality. The tentative policy implications are then discussed.
Probing the intra-group medium of a z = 0.28 galaxy group

We present new MUSE observations of a galaxy group probed by a background quasar. The quasar sightline passes between multiple z = 0.28 galaxies, whilst showing at the same redshift low-ionized metal line species, including Ca II, Mg I, Mg II and Fe II. Based on the galaxy redshifts measured from the MUSE data, we estimate the galaxies to be part of a small galaxy group with a halo mass of approximate to 6 x 10(12) M-circle dot. We use the MUSE data to reveal the two-dimensional dynamical properties of the gas and stars in the group galaxies, and relate these to the absorber kinematics. With these data, we consider a number of scenarios for the nature of the gas probed by the sightline absorbers: a corotating gas halo associated with a single galaxy within the group; outflowing material from a single group member powered by recent star-formation; and cool dense gas associated with an intra-group medium. We find that the dynamics, galaxy impact parameters, star formation rates and the absorber strength suggest that the cool gas cannot be clearly associated with any single galaxy within the group. Instead, we find that the observations are consistent with a superposition of cool gas clouds originating with the observed galaxies as they fall into the group potential, and are now likely in the process of forming the intra-group medium.
Quantifying the imaginarity of quantum mechanics

The use of imaginary numbers in modelling quantum mechanical systems encompasses the wave-like nature of quantum states. Here we introduce a resource theoretic framework for imaginarity, where the free states are taken to be those with density matrices that are real with respect to a fixed basis. This theory is closely related to the resource theory of coherence, as it is basis dependent, and the imaginary numbers appear in the off-diagonal elements of the density matrix. Unlike coherence however, the set of physically realizable free operations is identical to both completely resource non-generating (RNG) operations, and stochastically RNG operations. Moreover, the resource theory of imaginarity does not have a self-adjoint resource destroying map. After introducing and characterizing the free operations, we provide several measures of imaginarity, and give necessary and sufficient conditions for pure state transformations via physically consistent free operations in the single shot regime.
Investigating attentional bias in three differing alcohol consumption groups, and gender differentiation, utilising a visual dot probe

Excessive alcohol consumption causes serious health problems. Research demonstrates that alcohol use is characterised by biases in the attentional processing of alcohol stimuli. This study investigated 97, 18-25 year olds from Manchester Metropolitan University. Participants were split into a low (1-10 units p/w), moderate (11-20 units p/w), and high (21-30 units p/w) drinking group according to their response to the weekly alcohol indicator. Participants completed a dot probe task to elicit attentional bias towards alcohol stimuli. Part 1 aimed to determine whether moderate and high drinkers display an attentional bias for alcohol stimuli. Part 2 aimed to determine whether females had a higher attentional bias than males, in the heavy drinking group. Results indicated that moderate and high drinkers displayed a significant attentional bias towards alcohol stimuli. However, a significant difference between male and female attentional bias index scores in the high drinking group was not identified. Findings support addiction theories, where attention gained by one stimulus decreases the attention to another. Findings from this study can notify health professionals that the focus of interventions needs to not only target heavy drinkers, but moderate drinkers as well in order to reduce the escalation of drinking behaviour.
Prevalence and severity of animal Fasciolosis in six provinces of Iran

Background: Fasciolosis is one of the most important parasitic disease common among both humans and livestock. Considering the health and economic importance of the disease, an understanding of the epidemiology of Fasciolosis is highly crucial. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and severity of Fasciola infection in animals from different geographical regions of Iran during 2009-10. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 11100 livers taken from slaughtered sheep and cattle were carefully examined for Fasciola parasites at the six industrial slaughterhouses of East Azerbaijan, Khorasan-Razavi, Khuzestan, Fars, Mazandaran and Markazi provinces. All Fasciola parasites isolated from the livers of infected animals were transferred to the laboratory, and then the parasite species were identified and counted. Finally, the frequency distribution and the severity of infection were analyzed. Results: In this study, 1.10% of the total sheep and cattle slaughtered in six industrial slaughterhouses were found positive for Fasciolosis. The severity of Fasciola in sheep and cattle livers was 7.77±0.42 and 15.24±1.78, respectively. Khorasan Razavi and Fars provinces had the highest (14.54±3.16) and lowest (7.75±0.79) severity of infection, respectively. Conclusion: Rresults of the study show a reduction in the prevalence and severity of Fasciolosis in sheep and cattle. But considering the importance of the disease and its endemicity, the preventive measures should be taken against the animal and human Fasciolosis in Iran. Keywords: Fasciolosis, Cattle, Sheep, Prevalence, Severity
Plasma levels of C-Reactive Protein and Fibrinogen in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients in Ibadan, Southwest, Nigeria

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease which remains a global health problem till date. A number of cytokine and chemokine have been reported to be associated with MTB clearance, reactivation or cure but there are no consensus biomarkers to differentiate the severity of TB. In this study, we determined the changes in plasma C- reactive protein (C-RP) and Fibrinogen levels in Drug sensitive Tuberculosis (DSTB) patients at diagnosis, Multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) patients at diagnosis and during chemotherapy. Twenty-four (24) patients MDRTB patients and 24 newly diagnosed DSTB patients from University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria were recruited for the study by a Consultant Chest physician using clinical history, Chest X-ray and GENE Xpert test. Five (5) milliliters of blood was drawn from the anti-cubital fossa vein into lithium heparin tubes before the commencement of chemotherapy, 2 months, 4 months and 6 months of anti-TB therapy. Plasma obtained was analyzed for C-RP and fibrinogen using ELISA. Data was presented as mean ± SD. Student t-test was used for mean comparison. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Mean CRP level in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients was significantly higher at diagnosis compared with controls. Mean fibrinogen levels in the drug sensitive and multi drug resistant tuberculosis were significantly lower at diagnosis compared to controls. The mean CRP and fibrinogen levels in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis were significantly reduced during chemotherapy compared with before commencement of chemotherapy. Plasma CRP and fibrinogen are suggested as possible markers for monitoring treatment response in MDRTB patients.
On Nepalese English Discourse Granting Citizenship to English in Nepal via Corpus Building

The adoption and adaptation of the English language across the globe have given birth to several nativized varieties such as Indian English, Japanese English, Singaporean English etc. A good number of papers have appeared to argue that a divergent variety of English has grown in Nepal with its own distinctive features at all language levels. The emergence and growth of new English in Nepal, however, have generated heated debates amongst scholars. Whereas some argue that English should be owned and promoted for it has become an inevitable component of not only Nepalese academia but also socio-political life, others fear the development as fatal to indigenous linguistic and cultural heritages. In this article, I propose to own Nepalese English but cautiously i.e. the way it does not ruin our local inheritances. Nonetheless, I primarily advocate building a corpus of Nepalese English to authenticate it and pave the way for owning DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/nelta.v16i1-2.6127 NELTA 2011; 16(1-2): 30-41
A Case of Gastrointestinal Sarcoidosis without Pulmonary Involvement

Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology that is based on the presence of non-caseating granulomas. Sarcoidosis commonly involves the lungs, skin, and eyes. Gastrointestinal tract involvement in sarcoidosis is uncommon. Gastrointestinal tract sarcoidosis commonly occurs subclinically, with clinical manifestations present in only 0.1-0.9% of patients with the disease. There are rare case reports of an individual with symptomatic gastrointestinal sarcoidosis. In Korea, gastrointestinal sarcoidosis without pulmonary involvement has not been reported previously. Here, we describe a case of gastrointestinal sarcoidosis in a 37-year-old male with symptoms of weight loss, fever, and abdominal pain. He was diagnosed based on the presence of non-caseating epithelioid granulomas in the stomach, duodenum, and colon by multiple biopsies. (Korean J Med 2015;89:127-132)
Towards a Computational Model of Image Schema Theory

Embodied rationality has received increasing attention in artificial intelligence since the 1990s. One approach to embodied rationality is based on a concept from cognitive linguistics, image schemas. The theory of image schemas explores the ways that meaning, understanding, and rationality arise from and are conditioned by the patterns of our bodily experience. Image schemas provide a bridge between cognitive and bodily structures. We believe the way that humans reason intelligently, based on their bodily experience, can give us insight into how to design a computational model to achieve similar intelligent reasoning that is interpretable in human terms. This paper gives a survey of the existing research in the areas of image schema and mental imagery, focusing on the requirements for the representation. Extending previous efforts of computational models of image schemas, we have built a prototype that combines both depictive and propositional representations to capture some properties of image schema structures. We describe preliminary work with the prototype to explore its application to problem-solving.
Internet banking quality: marketing possibilities and customers’ loyalty

Purpose of the research is to identify customers’ satisfaction with internet banking quality and customers’ loyalty. Internet banking is bank’s innovative product that has positive influence on environment, i.e., it provides possibility to save paper, energy and other resources and as result to decrease carbon footprint and to provide other business with possibility for sustainable development. Internet banking quality is important factor that influence adoption of internet banking and customers’ loyalty. Research results identified that internet banking users are satisfied with internet banking reliability, internet banking usability, internet banking quality. They have also positive attitude regarding internet banking and they are willing to recommend it. Internet banking quality cannot be considered as factor that hinders adoption of internet banking and use of internet banking as environment for marketing. Research methods used: literature review, survey methods, descriptive statistics, factor analysis. JEL codes: M300; M310.
Introductory lectures on lattice QCD at nonzero baryon number

These lecture notes contain an elementary introduction to lattice QCD at nonzero chemical potential. Topics discussed include chemical potential in the continuum and on the lattice; the sign, overlap and Silver Blaze problems; the phase boundary at small chemical potential; imaginary chemical potential; and complex Langevin dynamics. An incomplete overview of other approaches is presented as well. These lectures are meant for postgraduate students and postdocs with an interest in extreme QCD. A basic knowledge of lattice QCD is assumed but not essential. Some exercises are included at the end.
Eulerian‐based virtual visual sensors to measure dynamic displacements of structures

Vibration measurements provide useful information about a structural system's dynamic characteristics and are used in many fields of science and engineering. Here, we present an alternative noncontact approach to measure dynamic displacements of structural systems using digital videos. The concept is that intensity measured at a pixel with a fixed (or Eulerian) coordinate in a digital video can be regarded as a virtual visual sensor. The pixels in the vicinity of the boundary of a vibrating structural element contain useful frequency information, which we have been able to demonstrate in earlier studies. Our ultimate goal, however, is to be able to compute dynamic displacements, i.e., actual displacement amplitudes in the time domain. In order to achieve that, we introduce the use of simple black‐and‐white targets that are mounted on locations of interest on the structure. By using these targets, intensity can be directly related to displacement, turning a video camera into a simple, computationally inexpensive, and accurate displacement sensor with notably low signal‐to‐noise ratio. We show that subpixel accuracy with levels comparable to computationally expensive block matching algorithms can be achieved using the proposed targets. Our methodology can be used for laboratory experiments, on real structures, and additionally, we see educational opportunities in K‐12 classroom. In this paper, we introduce the concept and theory of the proposed methodology, present and discuss a laboratory experiment to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed black‐and‐white targets, and discuss the results from a field test of an in‐service bridge.
A New Approach of Exploiting Self-Adjoint Matrix Polynomials of Large Random Matrices for Anomaly Detection and Fault Location

Synchronized measurements of a large power grid enable an unprecedented opportunity to study the spatial-temporal correlations. Statistical analytics for those massive datasets start with high-dimensional data matrices. Uncertainty is ubiquitous in a future's power grid. These data matrices are recognized as random matrices. This new point of view is fundamental in our theoretical analysis since true covariance matrices cannot be estimated accurately in a high-dimensional regime. As an alternative, we consider large-dimensional sample covariance matrices in the asymptotic regime to replace the true covariance matrices. The self-adjoint polynomials of large-dimensional random matrices are studied as statistics for big data analytics. The calculation of the asymptotic spectrum distribution (ASD) for such a matrix polynomial is understandably challenging. This task is made possible by a recent breakthrough in free probability, an active research branch in random matrix theory. This is the very reason why the work of this paper is inspired initially. The new approach is interesting in many aspects. The mathematical reason may be most critical. The real-world problems can be solved using this approach, however.
Improved efficiency for nanopillar array of c-Si photovoltaic by down-conversion and anti-reflection of quantum dots

Improvement of efficiency for crystalline silicon (c-Si) with nanopillar arrays (NPAs) solar cell was demonstrated by deployment of CdS quantum dots (QDs). The NPAs was fabricated by colloidal lithography of self-assembled polystyrene (PS) nanospheres with a 600 nm in size and reactive-ion etching techniques, and then a colloidal CdS QDs with a concentration of 5 mg/mL was spun on the surface of c-Si with NPAs solar cell. Under a simulated one-sun condition, the device with CdS QDs shows a 33% improvement of power conversion efficiency, compared with the one without QDs. Additionally, we also found that the device with CdS QDs shows a 32% reduction in electrical resistance, compared with the one without QDs solar cell, under an ultraviolet (UV) light of 355nm illumination. This reduced electrical resistance can directly contribute to our fill-factor (FF) enhancement. For further investigation, the excitation spectrum of photoluminescence (PL), absorbance spectrum, current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, reflectance and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the device were measured and analyzed. Based on the spectral response and optical measurement, we believe that CdS QDs not only have the capability for photon down-conversion in ultraviolet region, but also provide extra antireflection capability.
Nerve tissue engineering using blends of poly(3‐hydroxyalkanoates) for peripheral nerve regeneration

The only types of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) that have been explored for use in nerve regeneration are poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate), P(3HB), and poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyhexanoate) (P(3HB‐co‐3HHx)). However, nerve regeneration induced by these PHAs is inferior to that of autologous nerve grafting. The aim of this work was to study novel PHA blends as resorbable biomaterials for the manufacture of nerve guidance conduits. PHA blend films with varying ratios of poly(3‐hydroxyoctanoate)/poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (P(3HO)/P(3HB)) were produced using the solvent‐casting method. Neat films of P(3HO) and P(3HB), along with 25:75, 50:50, and 75:25 blend films of P(3HO)/P(3HB), were characterized with respect to chemical, material, and biological properties. On surface analysis, the blends exhibited higher values of roughness compared with the neat films. The differential scanning calorimetry characterization of the blends confirmed that P(3HO) and P(3HB) formed immiscible blends. FTIR and XRD analysis of the blends showed a decrease in crystallinity along with an increase of the proportion of P(3HO) . However, an increase in the stiffness of the blends was observed when the proportion of P(3HB) increased. Although all of the blends were biocompatible with NG108‐15 neuronal cells, the 25:75 P(3HO)/P(3HB) blend showed significantly better support for growth and differentiation of these cells. The mechanical properties of PHA blends correspond to the reported properties of peripheral nerves. Therefore, they could serve as base material for the manufacture of nerve guidance conduits.
A Curse of Comparison? Evidence on Reference Groups for Relative Income Concerns

This paper proposes that individuals care about the relative income of proximate reference groups. Making use of self-reported life satisfaction as a proxy for unobservable utility, the relative income of siblings is tested for relevance as a reference point for new sample data from Venezuela. Having greater perceived income than one's siblings is found to be positively linked to individual life satisfaction. This evidence supplements the scarce economic research on reference groups, supporting the hypothesis that individuals with proximate characteristics and resembling opportunities in life serve as points of comparison.