Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
REDUNDANCY IN HIGHWAY BRIDGE SUPERSTRUCTURES

A framework for considering redundancy in the design and load capacity evaluation of highway bridge superstructures is proposed. Redundancy is defined in terms of the capacity of the bridge system to resist failure at high loads and to resist system serviceability distress compared with its capacity to resist first member failure. The consequences of damage of one member to the overall system capacity is also checked. The proposed framework consists of tables of load modifiers that can be used to assess the redundancy level of typical bridge configurations. The load modifiers are used during the design process to require that members of less redundant configurations be more conservatively designed than is allowed by current standards. On the other hand, highly redundant designs are rewarded by permitting less conservative member designs. For bridges with nontypical configurations that are not covered by the tables, a direct analysis approach is recommended. General guidelines explaining how to perform such an analysis are provided. These include the loads that should be applied, the limit states that should be checked for both intact and damaged conditions, and the target load factors that the bridge should sustain before these limit states are violated. System factors that provide a measure of the system's redundancy can be calculated from the results of the incremental analysis. The load modifiers obtained from the tables and the system factors obtained from the incremental analysis can be used for the design of new bridges or they can be used to calculate rating factors for the evaluation of existing bridges. Thus, bridges with lower levels of redundancy must have their member capacities increased or they will have lower ratings. An example illustrating the proposed procedures is provided.
The New Consensus in Monetary Policy: Is the NKM fit for the purpose of inflation targeting?

In this paper we examine whether or not the NKM is . t for the purpose of providing a suitable basis for the conduct of monetary policy through inflation targeting. We focus on a number of issues: the dynamic response of inflation to interest rates in a theoretical NKM under discretion and commitment to a Taylor rule; the implications for the specification of the New Keynesian Phillips equation of alternative models of imperfect competition in a closed and an open economy; the general equilibrium underpinnings of the IS function; the extent of empirical support for the NKM; what the empirical evidence on the NKM implies for inflation targeting. Our findings reveal a number of problems with the NKM. Theoretically, the NKM predicts that a discretionary increase in interest rates will increase inflation, not reduce it. This is supported by our VAR evidence. Estimates of the NKM indicate a negative relation between interest rates and inflation, but the signs in the structural equations are inconsistent with the theory. We conclude that the standard specifications of the inflation and output equations are inadequate and that these equations should be embedded in a larger model.
Local Price Competition: The Case of Swedish Food Retailers

Swedish food prices have been an issue many years resulting in a number of studies by the Swedish Competition Authority. This paper sheds new light on the competitive situation by using a detailed dataset covering all Swedish food retailers. The dataset allows an assessment of the importance of price competition as well as whether the market is local or global. The results are unambiguous, and suggest that competition is substantial, but that it wears off quickly. The implications are that a variation in competition may be an important explanation for price variations within Sweden, and that the disciplinary effect of new formats focusing on low prices may be substantial.
Mathematical models of the plant circadian clock : impact of phase regulation by sugar on plant growth

Title Mathematical models of the plant circadian clock : impact of phase regulation by sugar on plant growth [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review] Author(s) 大原, 隆之 Citation 北海道大学. 博士(環境科学) 甲第13111号 Issue Date 2018-03-22 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/70361 Rights(URL) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Type theses (doctoral abstract and summary of review) Additional Information There are other files related to this item in HUSCAP. Check the above URL. File Information Takayuki_Ohara_review. pdf (審査の要旨)
Coalition Considerations and the Vote

In 2003, Israeli voters went to the polls to cast a single vote for a party-list running for the 16 Knesset. After the election, a majority of those elected to the Knesset would decide who was going to be the Prime Minister and the governing coalition. In 2003, no party realistically expected to govern alone after the election: some coalition of parties would have to form. The uncertainty for voters and politicians alike involved which government would form. In this paper, we investigate whether a desire to influence the post election coalition negotiations played a role in the voter’s decision. We present evidence that Israeli voters in 2003 considered policy outcomes that would result from the post-election, multi-party coalition negotiations.
Evaluating scale and technical efficiency among farms and ranches with a local market orientation

Abstract In recent years, the growth in local food marketing channels has been significant. Most of the research in this field examining the economic implication of these trends has focused post-farmgate including supply chain analysis (e.g., Hardesty et al., 2014; King et al., 2010), regional economic impacts (e.g., Brown et al., 2014; Hughes et al., 2008; Jablonski et al., 2016) and consumer values and motivations that have driven demand (e.g., Costanigro, 2014; Lusk and Briggeman, 2009). To date, with the exception of a few case studies examining expenses and sales by channel assessment (LeRoux et al., 2010; Hardesty and Leff, 2010; Jablonski and Schmit, 2016) there has been little research that examines the impact on financial viability among farms selling through these markets. The goal of this paper is twofold: first, to identify the factors that have the greatest influence on the efficiency of farmers and ranchers that participate in local food systems, and second, to estimate the relationship between marketing strategy and farm financial efficiency, with a particular focus on variations across farm size. Our estimation of the stochastic production frontier suggests that scale, production enterprise specialty, market outlet choices, land ownership, and management of expenses have the greatest influence on producer financial efficiency. Our model suggests that scale has the largest impact on financial efficiency, providing evidence that, all else constant, the most important factor in the efficiency of direct market producers is scale. When profit is defined as operating profit, results indicate that marketing channel is not an important indicator of efficiency. But when profit is defined as return on assets, marketing channel is an important indicator of efficiency, albeit less than is scale. Results from this analysis indicate there are economies of scale associated with farms and ranches that sell through local and regional markets, and that scale rather than marketing channel has the largest influence on efficiency.
Study of interleukin-6 levels in early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis

Background: Neonatal septicemia is one of the commonest causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Interleukin-6 Levels appears to be one of the most promising candidate cytokine for early diagnosis of neonatal septicaemia. The aim and objectives of this study was to study the role of IL-6 levels as an early marker for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis and to compare IL-6 levels with other septic markers. Methods: This is a hospital based prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of IL-6 as an early diagnostic marker of neonatal sepsis. Eighty neonates, delivered in the hospital, having risk factors for neonatal sepsis, along with those coming to hospital with signs and symptoms of sepsis up to 28 days of life (as study group ) along with normal new-borns admitted to the postnatal ward without high risk factors (control group) were enrolled for this study. Results: IL-6 Levels has shown maximum sensitivity of 95.83%, specificity of 87.50%, positive predictive value of 92%, negative predictive value of 93.33% and accuracy of 92.50 %. E. coli was the most common organism responsible for sepsis. CRP was reported to be highly sensitive (84.21%), and CBC was highly specific (75.00%), IT ratio has sensitivity of 62.5% and specificity of 56.25% while micro-ESR has shown sensitivity of 50.0% and specificity of 62.5%. Out of 80 cases, blood culture (BacTalert) showed growth in 48 cases in study group while two cases in control group. Thus blood culture positivity was 60%. Conclusion: IL-6 test has maximum sensitivity as well as specificity in comparison with other septic markers. Blood culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis of septicemia. CRP is most sensitive while CBC is most specific marker in neonatal sepsis.
Phonetic evidence for the phonological status of the tense–lax distinction in German

Recently [Hoole et al., Proc. ICSLP 94, 1, 53–56 (1994)] a comparison was made with EMMA of the kinematic properties of German tense and lax vowels over changes in speech rate. They appeared not to differ in the internal organization of the elementary CV and VC movements, but the lax vowels showed tighter serial coupling of CV to VC movement. These results were expected given the strong phonological tradition (on a phonetically elusive substrate) of accounting for the differences between these vowels at the level of word prosody (especially in the link between vowel and following consonant). Nevertheless, important questions remain open: First, analysis of the velocity profiles of the CV and VC movements had been based on a parameter (ratio of peak to average velocity) that may not capture all relevant differences. Second, it was unclear whether tense–lax differences are equally clear‐cut for all vowel subcategories (e.g, high, low, rounded, unrounded) and also for different consonantal contexts. The more refined and extensive analyses now carried out will be used to assess the well‐foundedness of the earlier preliminary conclusions and to place the German results within the wider perspective of improved understanding of vowel‐system typologies. [Work supported by German Research Council. ]
Crises, Economic Integration and Growth Collapses in African Countries

The objective of this article is to explore the effects of crises and openness on a large sample of African countries. Focusing on sudden stops, currency, twin and sovereign debt crises, the article shows that crises are associated with growth collapses in Africa. In contrast, openness is found to be beneficial to growth. More specifically, consistent with standard Mundell–Fleming type models, greater openness to trade and financial flows is found to mitigate the adverse effects of crises. These findings are robust to various measures of both openness and crises as well as to endogeneity concerns.
Effect of pores and grain size on the elastic and piezoelectric properties of quartz-based materials

Abstract The role of grain size and porosity in the piezoelectric and elastic properties of SiO2-based materials was investigated using resonant piezoelectric spectroscopy (RPS) and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS). RPS performed on agate revealed a piezoelectric effect comparable in magnitude to that in single-crystal quartz. The observed strong piezoelectricity in agate requires preferential orientation of SiO2 during crystal growth. Similarly, in novaculite and sandstone finite (but weak) RPS signals were evident, suggesting that the expected randomization of the piezoelectric quartz grains is incomplete. On the other hand, Vycor, a silica glass with a porosity of 40%, showed no evidence of the piezoelectric effect. According to temperature-dependent RPS and RUS measurements, the α-β transition temperature in quartz does not change in polycrystalline samples. Finally, the temperature dependence under heating of the elastic constants is reversible in quartz and agate and irreversible in sandstone and Vycor.
Why Do It Later? Goal Orientation, Self-efficacy, Test Anxiety, on Procrastination

Procrastination is a phenomenon that has a double connotes, positive and negative and can occur in all individuals, not least students. Why do individuals procrastinate work completion? There are many factors that cause individuals to procrastinate their works, both external or situational factors and internal or personal factors. The aim of this study was to examine the role of the personal factor in procrastination. Three hundred and sixty-five undergraduate students completed questionnaires that assessed the motivation type of the students’ learning, the level of test anxiety, the level to which they procrastinate on doing tasks, and their self-efficacy regarding tasks and tests. The results of this study indicated that procrastination was negatively related to learning-goal orientation and self-efficacy and was positively associated with test anxiety. The results of structural equation modeling testing indicated that self-efficacy mediated the relations between goal orientation and procrastination and between test anxiety and procrastination. These results highlighted the importance of multiple students’ type of goal orientation motivation. Self-efficacy and test anxiety consistently affected procrastination with different characteristic. Self-efficacy effected significantly negative on procrastination, while test anxiety effected significantly positive on procrastination. Detailed discussion is presented in this study.
Assessing the Effects of Organizational Justice on Organizational Commitment in Malaysia's SME Sector

The current study is aimed to explore factors influencing organizational commitment among Malaysian SME employees. A total of 384 employees from Malaysian SME companies had completed both the self-reported organizational commitment scale and organizational justice scale. The results revealed that procedural justice, distributive justice and informational justice are significantly and positively related to organizational commitment. Structural equation modeling indicated that the proposed theoretical model has a good level of fit. Copyright © 2016 Penerbit Akademia Baru - All rights reserved.
Preliminary Assessment of Shatt Al-Arab Riverine Environment, Basra Governorate, Southern Iraq

Environmental investigation has been done for 16 selected sites at Basra Governorate, Southern Iraq (eight sites at Shatt Al-Arab River, four irrigation canals branching from Shatt Al-Arab, three marshlands, and Arabian Gulf). These sites represent distinct land uses: urban, agricultural, marshes, and marine. Water samples have been analyzed for major anions and cations (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, F, Br, NO 3 , PO 4 , and SO 4 ) as well as for heavy metals (Li, Be, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Pb, and U) in an effort to make a preliminary assessment for Shatt Al-Arab riverine environment (i.e. contaminants’ distribution, level, and sourcing) and to examine the water suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes. Analyses revealed that Shatt Al-Arab water quality does not comply with drinking or irrigation standards. High population rate, major oil and gas production plants, power generating plants, and agricultural activities at Basra governorate indicate anthropogenic sources of some pollutants as we evidenced in this study. Keywords: Environmental Geochemistry, Water Quality, Pollution, Irrigation, Shatt Al-Arab, Basra
Academic dishonest among pharmacy students. Investigating academic dishonesty behaviours in undergraduates

In previous studies, academic dishonesty was found to be common among pharmacy students. The aim of this investigation was to find the reasons for dishonest behaviour among pharmacy students. Twelve semistructured interviews were carried out with first and fourth year pharmacy students, chosen to represent a broad spectrum of views about academic dishonesty. Five principle themes were identified as the motivations for student academic dishonesty: institutional environment, study skills, assessment employed, personal qualities and course specific factors. The results show that the motivational themes for dishonesty varied between the first year students and the fourth year students. The first year students interviewed, when compared to the fourth year students, were generally more uncertain about the definition of academic dishonestly, and consequently the behaviours associated with it. The first year students also appeared to possess poorer study skills and complained that the university failed to provide enough academic support. In contrast, the fourth year students interviewed were more sophisticated in their approach to academic dishonesty. They frequently mentioned pressure and stress as motivational factors leading some students to resort to dishonest behaviours. They were also more aware of the opportunities to engage in dishonest academic behaviour than first year students and generally believed engaging in dishonest behaviour was an institutional culture. All the students interviewed stated that engaging in dishonest behaviour could be motivated by peer pressure, fulfilling their social and esteem needs. Dishonest behaviour could be a way to increase social acceptance and to fit into a group. Students from both years were found to be goal orientated with poor study skills appearing to motivate dishonest behaviour.
Connecting the Spiritual and Emotional Intelligences: Confirming an Intelligence Criterion and Assessing the Role of Empathy

A viable model and self-report measure of spiritual intelligence were previously proposed and supported by King and DeCicco (2009). Despite such advances, evidence is needed demonstrating significant associations with other intelligences. The current study sought to test this criterion in relation to emotional intelligence. Among a sample of 420 Canadian adults, results demonstrated significant associations between spiritual intelligence and two self-report measures of emotional intelligence. Due to the suggestion by some theorists that empathy be included in a model of spiritual intelligence, associations with empathy were also investigated. Results bode well for the inclusion of a spiritual ability set in the broader framework of human intelligence, and further clarify the ways in which these two “alternative” intelligences intersect and digress. Key limitations, including the self-report nature of the current measures, are discussed.
The Effect of Fin Use on the Speed of Lifesaving Rescues

The authors analyzed how using 2 types of fins altered the velocity (v) and fatigue indexes (FI) of lifeguards during mannequin carries. Ten participants performed 3 trials of 25-m mannequin carries at maximal v while barefoot and while wearing flexible and fiber-type fins. A swim-sensor speedometer was used to measure v. Mean v during 2-s periods was computed in the beginning, middle, and end of the event. The slopes of v and FI were computed for the first and second halves of each trial and for the total time required. After it had been established that the data distributions were normal, repeated-measures ANOVAs were calculated for each dependent variable. Results confirmed that mannequin carries while barefoot at each point had significantly slower v than when using either type of fin. Declines in v across the 25 m tended to be greater when the lifeguards did not use fins, and the slopes tended to be smoother when they used flexible fins. Using fiber fins enabled participants to maintain the same v from the beginning to the end of each trial. No significant differences were found across conditions for the v slopes and FI.
Longitudinal Prediction of Parenting Alliance Strength: The Roles of Marital Satisfaction and Depression

This study investigated associations among parenting alliance, marital satisfaction, and depressive symptoms over time. Participants were 84 married couples recruited from the community. They completed self-report measures of parenting alliance, marital satisfaction, and depressive symptoms at two points in time over a span of 16 months. Regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses separately for husbands and wives. Results suggested that initial marital quality alone can be an important predictor of improvements or decrements in husbands' parenting alliance over time. Wives' perceptions of the parenting alliance over time appeared to be primarily influenced by the present context of the marital relationship rather than by their initial perceptions of the marital relationship. The models predicting husbands' later reports of marital satisfaction were largely similar to the models predicting husbands' parenting alliance. For wives, initial perceptions of the parenting alliance impacted her later feelings of marital satisfaction, despite fluctuations in alliance over time. Limitations are outlined, and implications for future research, theory, and clinical practice are discussed.
Aerosol profiling with the Jenoptik ceilometer CHM15kx

Abstract. Since a few years, the number of active remote sensing systems has been rapidly increasing as national weather services started to build up networks of ceilometers. As ceilometers can be considered as "simple" backscatter lidars, it is obvious to investigate to which extent they can provide quantitative aerosol information. In this context, the calibration of the ceilometer is the most crucial point: whereas previous studies primarily have relied on the comparisons with co-incident sun photometer measurements and the Rayleigh calibration, we provide an absolute calibration of the ceilometer. The advantage of this approach is that backscatter profiles can be derived during daytime and nighttime, and even in cases when the signal-to-noise ratio of signals from the free troposphere is very low. Moreover, the retrieval can easily be automated. In this paper, we consider the Jenoptik CHM15kx-ceilometer. We discuss the methodology and the achievable accuracy and present a set of examples to highlight the wide range of applications, and the limitations. The achievable temporal resolution is of the order of a few minutes; the relative error of the particle backscatter coefficient is less than 10%. It is emphasized that the accuracy of extinction coefficients and – as a consequence – of the aerosol optical depth is limited due to the unknown lidar ratio. This is, however, an inherent problem of any backscatter lidar and not a special feature of the ceilometer.
Effect of azolla-incorporated diets on the growth and survival of Labeo fimbriatus during fry-to-fingerling rearing

Abstract An experiment of 75 days duration was conducted in fertilized outdoor circular cement tanks (1,000 L) with soil base for evaluating the growth and survival of Labeo fimbriatus fry fed with pelleted feed containing varied levels of dried azolla (Azolla pinnata). The Control feed contained 45% groundnut oilcake plus 45% rice bran and 10% finger millet flour added as binder for pelleting. Dried azolla powder was incorporated into the feed at 10, 20, 30 and 40% levels, replacing the groundnut cake and rice bran proportionately. L. fimbriatus (mean length 2.42 cm) fry were stocked in all the tanks at 30 m−3. The fish were fed 10% of body weight during the first month, followed by 7% during the second month and 5% during the last 15 days. Incorporation of azolla did not affect (p > 0.05) the water quality, growth and survival of fingerlings at harvest. Incorporation of azolla in the diet reduced the cost of feed (Rs. per 100 g biomass; Rs: Indian rupee, INR; 1 INR ≈ 0.015 EUR) from 3.35 to 2.53, with a cost saving of 24.48%. The study indicated the possibility of incorporating azolla in diets of L. fimbriatus up to 40% during fry-to-fingerling rearing, resulting in savings on feed cost.