Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulating Contact Using the Elastic Foundation Algorithm in OpenSim

Modeling joint contact is necessary to test many questions using simulation paradigms, but this portion of OpenSim is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to provide a guide for implementing a validated elastic foundation contact model in OpenSim. First, the load-displacement properties of a stainless steel ball bearing and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) slab were recorded during a controlled physical experiment. These geometries were imported and into OpenSim and contact mechanics were modeled with the on-board elastic foundation algorithm. Particle swarm optimization was performed to determine the elastic foundation model stiffness (2.14×1011 ± 6.81×109 N/m) and dissipation constants (0.999 ± 0.003). Estimations of contact forces compared favorably with blinded experimental data (root mean square error: 87.58 ± 1.57 N). Last, total knee replacement geometry was used to perform a sensitivity analysis of material stiffness and mesh density with regard to penetration depth and computational time. These simulations demonstrated that material stiffnesses between 1011 and 1012 N/m resulted in realistic penetrations (< 0.15mm) when subjected to 981N loads. Material stiffnesses between 1013 and 1015 N/m increased computation time by factors of 12–23. This study shows the utility of performing a simple physical experiment to tune model parameters when physical components of orthopaedic implants are not available to the researcher. It also demonstrates the efficacy of employing the on-board elastic foundation algorithm to create realistic simulations of contact between orthopaedic implants.
Researching with Twitter timeline data: A demonstration via “everyday” socio-political talk around welfare provision

Increasingly, social media platforms are understood by researchers to be valuable sites of politically-relevant discussions. However, analyses of social media data are typically undertaken by focusing on ‘snapshots’ of issues using query-keyword search strategies. This paper develops an alternative, less issue-based, mode of analysing Twitter data. It provides a framework for working qualitatively with longitudinally-oriented Twitter data (user-timelines), and uses an empirical case to consider the value and the challenges of doing so. Exploring how Twitter users place “everyday” talk around the socio-political issue of UK welfare provision, we draw on digital ethnography and narrative analysis techniques to analyse 25 user-timelines and identify three distinctions in users’ practices: users’ engagements with welfare as TV entertainment or as a socio-political concern; the degree of sustained engagement with said issues, and; the degree to which users’ tweeting practices around welfare were congruent with or in contrast to their other tweets. With this analytic orientation, we demonstrate how a longitudinal analysis of user-timelines provides rich resources that facilitate a more nuanced understanding of user engagement in everyday socio-political discussions online.
LONG-TERM USE OF NONSTEROIDAL ANTI- INFLAMMATORY DRUGS AND DEPRESSION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS

Medication is a recognized factor that increases the risk of depression and is more important in the elderly patients due to polytherapy and secondary changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Of all long-term use drug classes administered in elderly, we have found out significant differences in the mean scores of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) only for the following drug classes old persons use: sedatives, anxiolytics and hypnotics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, respectively (NSAIDs). There have been no significant differences among the GDS mean scores when the main NSAIDs were used. For the sedatives’ group after excluding patients who received simultaneously NAISDs, the GDS mean score was not significantly different from that in the whole group. These data suggest that NSAIDs could have a direct effect on mood when they are long-term used by the elderly patients. Rezumat Medicaţia este un factor recunoscut de crestere a riscului pentru depresie si este cu atât mai importantă la pacienţii vârstnici din cauza polimedicaţiei si a modificărilor secundare de farmacocinetică si farmacodinamică. Dintre toate clasele de medicamente utilizate cronic la pacienţii vârstnici am identificat diferenţe semnificative statistic ale mediei scorului obţinut la scala de depresie geriatrică (GDS) doar pentru următoarele clase de medicamente: sedative, anxiolitice si hipnotice, respectiv antiinflamatorii nesteroidiene (AINS). Nu s-au obţinut diferenţe semnificative ale mediei GDS la principalele substanţe AINS folosite. La grupul de pacienţi ce au utilizat sedative după excluderea subiecţilor care au utilizat concomitent si AINS, valoarea medie a GDS nu a mai fost semnificativ diferită de cea a intregului lot de studiu. Aceste date sugerează că AINS ar putea avea un efect direct asupra dispoziţiei atunci când sunt utilizate cronic, la pacienţii vârstnici.
Socio-Economic Analysis of Informal Business Activities: A Case Study on Central Business District Area of Dhaka City

The purpose of this study is to explore the present status of informal business activities of Central Business District (CBD) area of Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh and issues regarding socio-economic development of it. Data for the study is collected from a sample of 153 informal business workers within Motijeel area, the CBD of Dhaka city. A semi-structured questionnaire is used to generate survey data and then analyzed through simple statistical methods. Demographics of the respondents show that most of them are young and middle aged with limited educational qualification. They face shortage of capital as majority relies on their own savings. Moreover, maximum workers have monthly income below than BDT 15,000. However, almost all of them are willing to expand current business, though many find it competitive enough. The study will be useful to the policy makers for improving present status of the informal workers. From the government level, policy can be initiated for better environmental planning as well as improving socio-economic conditions of the informal business workers. However, the study opens the scope for further comprehensive study in related development areas. Keywords : Informal Sector, Informal Business Activities, Central Business District, Socio-economic analysis, Bangladesh
Characterization of palm kernel shell for materials reinforcement and water treatment

As developing nations strive for economic sustainability, effort is geared towards exploiting biomass materials that could have alternative uses to their conventional low valued uses in order to achieve this goal. It is because of this that palm kernel shell, a byproduct of oil palm processing, is characterized for its application in construction and water treatment industries. The materials physical and chemical properties determined using standard methods show that it can find useful application in light weight construction as material filler and as sorbent material for industrial water treatment. The results of the x-ray photo spectrometry (XPS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) reveal that the palm kernel shell (PKS) contains surface elements, morphology and crystalline qualities well required of material fillers in construction and adsorption industries. These can add to the market values of palm kernel shell as against its direct combustion and wastage of the material at oil palm processing mills. Key words: Oil palm kernel shell, characterization, adsorbent, x-ray diffraction, micro porosity.
Experimental investigation of concrete edge failure of multiple‐row anchorages with supplementary reinforcement

The presence of supplementary reinforcement, in the form of edge reinforcement and stirrups, has a significant influence on the load‐bearing capacity of anchorage groups with multiple anchor rows loaded in shear perpendicular to the edge. The current models available in the codes and standards are conservative for low to medium amounts of supplementary reinforcement but tend to be unsafe for high amounts of reinforcement. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive test program carried out to investigate the behavior of anchor groups with supplementary reinforcement loaded in shear toward the edge. The test results are discussed in detail to highlight the influence of supplementary reinforcement on the load‐bearing capacity of the anchorages. Based on the evaluation of these test results, a realistic and rational model has been developed to predict concrete edge failure loads for anchorages with supplementary reinforcement that will be presented in another paper.
An eddifying Stommel model: fast eddy effects in a two-box ocean

ABSTRACT A system of stochastic differential equations is formulated describing the heat and salt content of a two-box ocean. Variability in the heat and salt content and in the thermohaline circulation between the boxes is driven by fast Gaussian atmospheric forcing and by ocean-intrinsic, eddy-driven variability. The eddy forcing of the slow dynamics takes the form of a colored, non-Gaussian noise. The qualitative effects of this non-Gaussianity are investigated by comparing to two approximate models: one that includes only the mean eddy effects (the “averaged model”), and one that includes an additional Gaussian white-noise approximation of the eddy effects (the “Gaussian model”). Both of these approximate models are derived using the methods of fast averaging and homogenisation. In the parameter regime where the dynamics has a single stable equilibrium the averaged model has too little variability. The Gaussian model has accurate second-order statistics, but incorrect skew and rare-event probabilities. In the parameter regime where the dynamics has two stable equilibria the eddy noise is much smaller than the atmospheric noise. The averaged, Gaussian, and non-Gaussian models all have similar stationary distributions, but the jump rates between equilibria are too small for the averaged and Gaussian models.
First-principles investigation of the very large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at Fe|MgO and Co|MgO interfaces

The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) arising at the interface between ferromagnetic transition metals and metallic oxides are investigated via first-principles calculations. In this work very large values of PMA up to 3 erg/cm$^2$ at Fe$|$MgO interfaces are reported in agreement with recent experiments. The origin of PMA is attributed to overlap between O-$p_z$ and transition metal $d_{z^2}$ orbitals hybridized with $d_{xz(yz)}$ orbitals with stronger spin-orbit coupling induced splitting around the Fermi level for perpendicular magnetization orientation. Furthemore, it is shown that the PMA value weakens in case of over- or underoxidation when oxygen $p_z$ and transition metal $d_{z^2}$ orbitals overlap is strongly affected by disorder, in agreement with experimental observations in magnetic tunnel junctions.
Voluntary Disclosure by Saudi Companies

In a developing country, such as Saudi Arabia, which depends on real time information, investigating voluntary disclosure is crucial for the capital market efficiency and shareholders satisfactory. A firm’s voluntary disclosure is important to reduce the level of information asymmetry and increase the firm’s credibility in the capital market. This study reports on voluntary disclosure practices of Saudi non-financial publicly traded companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market (Tadawul) during the period 2012-2013, and relates the extent of disclosure to : corporation size, auditor size, leverage, profitability, and listing age. A disclosure index has been developed and statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis. Voluntary disclosure varies widely within a sample of 116 non-financial publicly traded companies during the period covered. The findings indicated that firms, on average, report 0.29 percent of the voluntary information. Further, in an effort to examine the relationship between the voluntary disclosure level and firm specific characteristics, the results of the regression analyses indicated that corporation size, profitability, and listing age have significant positive association with voluntary disclosure level in annual reports, however, auditor size and leverage do not have any significant association with voluntary disclosure level. Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Annual Reports; Saudi Arabia
Money, Output, and Inflation in the Longer Term: Major Industrial Countries, 1880–2001

We study how fluctuations in money growth correlate with fluctuations in real output growth and inflation. Using band-pass filters, we extract cycles from each time series that last 2 to 8 (business cycles) and 8 to 40 (longer-term cycles) years. We employ annual data, 1880-2001 without gaps, for eleven industrial countries. Fluctuations in money growth do not play a systematic role at business cycle frequencies. However, money growth leads or affects contemporaneously inflation, but not real output growth, in the longer run. Also, formal break tests indicate no structural changes for the longer-term money growth and inflation relationship, despite changes in policy regimes.
TITLE A Comparison of Positive Outcome Expectancies : A Review of the Theories of

Research has shown that optimistic and pessimistic outcome expectancy evaluations are associated with adaptive and maladaptive levels of psychological functioning, physical wellness, and health recovery issues. The research of M. F. Scheier, C. S. Carver, M. E. P. Seligman, and C. R. Snyder supports the hypothesis that elevated optimism or optimistic cognitive sets will correlate with motivation, action, perseverance, and enhanced probabilities of goal acquisition, as well as behavioral engagement, lowered depressive symptomology, and improved and sustained health, whereas lower outcome expectancies will correlate with disengagement, demotivation, lowered performance, passivity, elevated depression, and diminished health recovery rates. The research reviewed not only has important implications for adaptive psychological functioning: it also extends empirical support for the mind-body connection. (Author) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************
The degeneracy between the dust colour temperature and the spectral index The problem of multiple χ 2 minima

Context. With the current Herschel and Planck satellite missions, there is strong interest in the interpretation of the details of the sub-millimetre dust emission spectra. The data contain information on the properties of the interstellar clouds and the physics of the dust grains. A lot of work has been done to understand the negative correlation observed between the spectral index βObs and the colour temperature TC that in the χ 2 fits is partly caused by the observational noise. Aims. In the (TC, βObs) plane, the confidence regions are elongated, banana-shaped structures. Previous studies have indicated that the errors may exhibit strongly asymmetric features that have important consequences for the investigation of individual objects and the interpretation of the relation between the TC and βObs parameters. We study under which conditions the confidence regions exhibit such anomalous, strongly non-Gaussian behaviour that could affect the interpretation of the observed (TC, βObs) relations. Methods. We examined a set of modified black body spectra and spectra calculated from radiative transfer models of filamentary interstellar clouds. We analysed simulated observations at discrete wavelengths between 100 μm and 850 μm. We performed modified black body fits and examined the structure of the χ 2 (TC ,β Obs) function of the fits. Results. We demonstrate cases where, when the signal-to-noise ratio is low, the χ 2 has multiple local minima in the (TC ,β Obs )p lane. A small change in the weighting of the data points can cause the solution to jump to completely different values. In particular, if there is noise, the analysis of spectra with T > 10 K and βObs < 2 can lead to a separate population of solutions with much lower colour temperature and higher spectral indices. The anomalies are caused by the noise. However, the tendency to show multiple χ 2 minima depends on the model (in part via the influence on the signal-to-noise ratios) and on the set of wavelengths included in the analysis. Deviations from the underlying assumption of a single modified black body spectrum are not significant. Conclusions. The presence of several local minima implies that the results obtained from the χ 2 minimisation depend on the starting point of the optimisation and may correspond to non-global minima. Because of the strongly non-Gaussian nature of the errors, the obtained (TC ,β Obs) distribution may be contaminated by a few solutions with unrealistically low colour temperatures and high spectral indices. Proper weighting must be applied to avoid the determination of the βObs(TC) relation to be unduly affected by these measurements.
Effect of Telegram Application on Iranian Advanced EFL Learners' Vocabulary Knowledge and Attitude

The study intended to examine the effects of Telegram on Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary knowledge and the attitude of them towards vocabulary learning. To this end, a group of 100 Iranian advanced EFL learners participated in an experimental design project. The participants were selected after they took the Oxford Quick Placement Test and they were divided into experimental and control groups. The participants of both groups had a three-week vocabulary instruction. The treatment was similar for both groups except for exercises done after the class. The participants in the experimental group were asked to fill out an attitudinal questionnaire after the treatment. Then, a vocabulary test was administered among the participants of both groups. Results of the independent-samples t-test run on the collected data indicated that participants of the experimental group outperformed those of the control group. The findings of the attitudinal questionnaire showed that the participants had positive attitude toward using Telegram. The conclusion drawn is that those in the experimental group were free in using the online group to interact with each other. Within this framework, learners in the experimental group indicated that they enjoyed this instruction as it was fun to embark on new technological learning methods.
The Effect of Leverage on Financial Health of the Firms: A Study from Cement Industry of Pakistan

This research paper has tried to measure the relationship between leverage and profitability of firms in the cement industry of Pakistan. Debt to equity is used to measure the leverage of the companies in the cement industry in Pakistan. Short term debt to equity (STD/E) and long term debt to equity (LTD/E) are considered as leverage variables . Return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) are used to measure the financial performance of the companies. For this research paper 10 cement companies are considered, listed in the Karachi Stock Exchange during the time period 2008-2012. To measure the relationship between leverage and profitability of firms in the cement industry of Pakistan regression model and descriptive statistics have been used. Our results found negative and significant relationship between leverage and profitability of the firm. Keywords: Leverage, Profitability, Cement industry, Capital Structure
Student Voice in Work Integrated Learning Scholarship: A Review of Teacher Education and Geographical Sciences

Work integrated learning is an umbrella term that refers to the opportunities provided to university students to integrate knowledge of theory and practice as part of their degree program. As the role of students in higher education is evolving, we sought to develop our understanding of the role of students in the work integrated learning (WIL) space through exploring current literature on student voice. In this paper, we consider what has been reported about WIL in relation to student voice, how it has been represented, and how this has influenced practice. We undertook a systematic literature review for two different disciplines, one which represented an example of a professionally accredited undergraduate degree program (teacher education), and the other an example of a program with no professional accreditation (geographical sciences). The teacher education literature demonstrated more clearly the use of student voice to inform WIL within curriculum design. However, the geographical sciences literature did include examples of student voice being incorporated within the design of collaborative community-based forms of WIL. A role for students as researchers, who lead research and initiate curriculum change into WIL, was noticeably absent in both disciplinary sets of literature. The lack of evidence of the inclusion of students in the design, conduct, and analysis of WIL provides an invitation for SoTL scholars to redefine the role of students in this space.
The same with age: Evidence for age-related similarities in interpersonal accuracy.

Interpersonal accuracy refers to the ability to make accurate perceptions about others' social and emotional qualities. Despite this broad definition, the measurement of interpersonal accuracy remains narrow, as most studies focus on the accurate perception of others' emotional states. Moreover, previous research has relied primarily upon traditional tasks consisting of posed, prototypic expressions and behaviors as stimuli. These methodological limitations may constrain our understanding of how different interpersonal perception skills change in adulthood. The present study investigated the extent to which various interpersonal perception skills are worse, better, or remain the same with age using both traditional and nontraditional interpersonal accuracy tasks. One hundred fifty-one adults from 3 age groups (young, middle age, and older) completed a battery of interpersonal accuracy tasks that assessed eight different emotion perception skills and six different social perception skills. Analyses revealed age-related differences in accuracy for five interpersonal perception skills; differences were typically observed between younger and older adults on emotion perception accuracy and between younger and middle-age adults on social perception accuracy. In contrast, almost all remaining interpersonal perception skills-both emotional and social-revealed greater evidence for age-related similarities than differences in Bayesian analyses. Additional exploratory analyses indicated that the observed age differences in interpersonal accuracy may be attributable to individual differences in cognitive ability rather than age. Results provide a nuanced picture of how interpersonal perception skills change in adulthood and provide new methodological tools for a more complete and comprehensive assessment of interpersonal accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).