Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beam-Column Interaction in Structural Stainless Steels

Due to the conservativeness and lack of physical test data available stainless steels use in Australia has been costly and limited. Stainless steel has many desirable properties such as ascetics, high corrosion resistance, ease of construction and reduced life cycle costs, this incorporated with its non-linear stress-strain response, which is significantly different to that of ordinary carbon steel suggest modification of the analogies drawn between the two material needs to be addressed in the standards. Strengths achievable are exceeding 700 MPa; with these facts in mind further analysis needs to be done to reduce the conservativeness therefore reducing the expense of this valuable material. A new approach ‘continuous strength method (CSM)’ was developed to predict design values with greater accuracy. This approach did not extend to high strength duplex stainless steel as no results were available at the time of development. CSM is based directly on deformation capacities as compared with the design codes that use cross-sectional classification. The design process was verified and extended to incorporate high strength duplex stainless steel. Finite element models and a parametric study would have added valuable data to this research but was unable to be completed. CSM was confirmed to be a viable and easy to use design method with great accuracy achieved, however greater physical test results need to be analysed with respect to beam-column interaction including a variety of cross-sections using high strength duplex stainless steels before being incorporated in to the standards.
Detection of implicit fluctuation bands and their credibility in EU candidate countries

This paper attempts to identify implicit exchange-rate regimes for currencies of candidate countries vis-à-vis the euro. To that end, we apply three sequential procedures that consider the dynamics of exchange rates to data covering the period from 1999:01 to 2012:12. Our results would suggest that implicit bands have existed in many sub-periods for almost all currencies under study. Once we detect de facto discrepancies between de facto and de iure exchange-rate regimes, we make use of different methods to study the credibility of the detected fluctuation bands. The detected lack of credibility in a high percentage of the sample is robust to the use of several credibility tests, suggesting that economic agents do not behave as if these bands actually were in force at time of making their financial plans. These countries do not improve the confidence on the fluctuation bands as time evolves.
Dispositional empathy, dyadic perspective-taking, and interpersonal perceptions among married persons in relation to marital adjustment

Several studies have shown that various aspects of empathy are important in relationship satisfaction. In addition, the similarity, assumed similarity, and accuracy of interpersonal perceptions among married couples have also been shown to be positively related to marital adjustment. The present study examined these variables in a sample of 42 married couples. It was found that Perspective-Taking emd Empathie Concern, as well as Dyadic Perspective-Taking were positively associated with marital adjustment. In addition, it was observed that accuracy of interpersonal perceptions was positively related to marital satisfaction and satisfaction regarding conflict resolutions. This significcint correlation did not remain, however, when the effects of similarity and assumed similarity were taken into account. Finally, it was proposed that Perspective-Taking ability would be positively related to accuracy of interpersonal perceptions. This hypothesis was largely unsupported.
LMI-based criterion for the robust stability of 2D discrete state-delayed systems using generalized overflow nonlinearities

This paper addresses the problem of global asymptotic stability of a class of discrete uncertain state-delayed systems described by the Fornasini-Marchesini second local state-space (FMSLSS) model using generalized overflow nonlinearities. The uncertainties are assumed to be norm bounded. A computationally tractable, that is, linear-matrix-inequality-(LMI-) based new criterion for the global asymptotic stability of such system is proposed. It is demonstrated that several previously reported stability criteria for two-dimensional (2D) systems are recovered from the presented approach as special cases. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the usefulness of the presented approach.
Attitude toward Science Teaching of Spanish and Turkish In-Service Elementary Teachers: Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Background:Elementary school teachers’ having a positive attitude toward science teaching might encourage students to develop positive attitudes toward science learning. This cross-cultural study aimed to validate the seven-factor structure of the Dimensions of Attitude toward Science (DAS) scale by applying it in two countries. Moreover, it aimed to determine the percentage distributions of in-service elementary school teachers’ attitudes on the confirmed seven categories.Materials and methods:The DAS scale was translated into Turkish and Spanish and administered to 185 teachers in Burdur and 202 teachers in Almeria.Results:Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the factor structures of the translated scales for the two countries correspond to the same seven-factor structure by fitting the theoretical model.Conclusions:The DAS scale was compatible for both countries at an adequate level. In both samples, most of the teachers were against gender stereotyping in the science teaching/learning process, and they indicated they did not have any anxiety, fear, or stress toward teaching science. The crucial difference between the two countries was seen in the teachers’ responses to items measuring “Enjoyment” and “Perceived Dependency Context Factors. ”
Role of TV Ads in Transforming the Lifestyle of Consumers: A Study of Rural Punjab

Empirical research indicates evidence of the role of TV advertisements in transforming the lifestyle of consumers. This study provides further evidence in this regard. We added to literature by assessing the role of TV ads on rural consumers. The study was conducted in the rural areas of Punjab among 400 respondents. Factor analysis resulted in extraction of three main factors explaining the construct of the role of TV in transforming the lifestyle of rural consumers. The factors extracted are namely, change in spending habits, change in psychology and improvement in lifestyle. The respondents were further categorized on the basis of age, gender, education, family and income. Anderson Rubin (AR) factor scores were calculated for each of the extracted factors and were compared among all the categories of respondents. Significant results observed for gender and occupation categories for AR factor scores imply that these demographic variables need to be considered by companies in designing their advertisements.
Pellicle Ultrastructure Demonstrates that Moyeria is a Fossil Euglenid

ABSTRACT An earlier proposal of euglenid affinity for the acritarch Moyeria was based primarily on the pattern of bi-helical striate ornamentation as seen in scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy. Examination of specimens using transmission electron microscopy reveals that the ‘striae’ are actually integral components of the microfossil wall itself, corresponding to the pellicle strips of some euglenid species today. A Silurian specimen from Scotland preserves an articulated wall composed of thickened arches and thinner U-shaped interconnecting segments paralleling that seen in some modern photosynthetic euglenids. A second specimen from the Moyeria holotype section (Silurian of New York State) shows fused articulation, again compatible with some extant euglenids. This evidence is sufficient to transfer Moyeria out of the Incertae sedis group, Acritarcha, and into the Euglenida. This proposal helps establish the morphological basis for the recognition of euglenid microfossils and ultimately provides evidence of a lengthy fossil record of the eukaryotic supergroup Excavata.
Shifts in phytoplankton community structure modify bacterial production, abundance and community composition

In recent decades, the phytoplankton community in parts of the Baltic Sea has shifted from diatom dominance to co-occurrence of diatoms and dinoflagellates during the spring bloom. We investigated whether this shift affects bacterial production (BP), abundance and community composition (BCC). Two mesocosm experiments were carried out with water from the SW coast of Finland during the winters of 2012 and 2013. The water was collected before the onset of the spring bloom. Natural seawater was used as a control, and various inocula of diatom and dino flagellate cultures were used as treatments. After the phytoplankton bloom development, BP (thymidine: BPT; leucine: BPL) was significantly higher in the diatom treatments than in the controls and dinoflagellate treatments (BPT and BPL in 2012 and BPL in 2013). In 2013, the BCC was significantly different between the diatom and dinoflagellate treatments and there was a temporal shift in both experiments. Alphaproteobacteria predominated in all treatments at the beginning of the experiments and shifted to flavobacterial (2012) and betaproteobacterial predominance (2013) during the chlorophyll a peak. Towards the end of the experiment, Actinobacteria and Betaproteo bacteria predominated in the diatom treatment in 2012, whereas in 2013 Flavobacteriia (all treatments) predominated together with Gammaproteobacteria and Cytophagia (diatom treatments). The results demonstrated that bacterial physiology and community structure are affected by relatively small changes in the phytoplankton community. Thus, the ongoing changes in the phytoplankton community resulting from co-occurrence of diatoms and dinoflagellates may decrease pelagic remineralization of carbon and reduce organic matter fluxes through the microbial loop.
Music of Migration and Phenology: Listening to Counterpoints of Musk Ox and Caribou Migrations, and Cycles of Plant Growth

This extended abstract describes a sonification that was commissioned by a biologist/animal ecologist. The sonification was created with the software synthesis program SuperCollider [1]. The motivation for creating it was to pursue additional levels of engagement and immersion by supplementing the effects of visual plots, as well as to create an informative rendering of a multivariate dataset. The goal is for audiences, in particular students and laypeople, to readily understand (and hopefully find compelling) the phenomena being described. The approach is parameterbased, creating “sonic scatter plots” [2] in the same manner as work described in earlier publications [3], [4]. The work described here is a current experimental project that takes a sonic approach to describing the interactions of plant phenology and animal migrations in Greenland. This area is seen as a predictor of how climate change may affect areas farther south. There is concern about the synchronicity of annual caribou migrations with the appearance of plant food sources, as warmer temperatures may cause plants to bloom earlier and in advance of the caribou arrival at their calving grounds; depleted food availability at calving time can lead to lower populations of caribou. Parts of this sonification will be applied to a multi-year professional development workshop for middle and high school science teachers. It is hoped that sonifications of plant observations made by teachers and students will enhance student engagement, and possibly lead to greater degrees of understanding of phenology patterns.
Assessment of Antioxidant effect of the essential oil and methanol extract of Centaurea dimorpha Viv. aerial parts from Algeria.

Abstract The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of aerial parts of Centaurea dimorpha Viv. were analyzed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The main constituents were Caryophyllene oxide (09.88%), limonene (5.73%), tetradecanoic acid (5.68%), spathulenol (5.44%), methyl hexadecanoate (4.45%), and α-pinene (03.08%). To our best knowledge this is the first study of essential oils from the aerial parts of Centaurea dimorpha growing in Algeria. Moreover the essential oil and methanolic extract were screened for their possible in vitro antioxidant activity by DPPH free radical-scavenging test. The findings showed that the percentage inhibition is 10.67 and 77.01 respectively at a concentration of 1mole/L.
Land Tenure and Adoption of Straw Retention: Evidence from Henan, China

We examine how land tenure arrangements affect Chinese crop farmers’ adoption of straw retention, a key conservation practice promoted by the Chinese government in part to curb rising air pollution. Using data from a 2016 farmer household survey covering 1,659 crop plots in Henan Province in central China, we analyze how straw retention choices are influenced by two different land tenure arrangements: owncontracted plots versus rented plots. Empirical results from several probit regressions reveal that, after controlling for crop choice, harvest season, spatial climate, and other plot-level and household-level covariates, a rented plot is associated with a 10.7 percent reduction in the probability of adopting straw retention after harvest throughout 2015. A Heckman selection model that corrects the sample selection bias further supports the negative correlation between less secure rented farmland and straw retention adoption. This suggests that more caution and attention is warranted to the long-term sustainability of farmland in urbanizing China as the Chinese government keeps pushing for further development of rural land rental market.
The Fear Factor: Fear Deficits in Psychopathy as an Index of Limbic Dysregulation

of a continuously-distributed personality trait (Edens et al., 2006). Although the clinical and theoretical importance of psychopathy is well-established, a number of issues regarding the construct, including the factors that predict and explain psychopathic symptomatology, are yet to be resolved (Edens et al., 2006). Psychopathic traits are highly compatible with risk-taking, antisocial behaviors. This association is reflected by the fact that, despite psychopathic individuals comprise less than 1% of the general population (Coid et al., 2009), approximately 10 to 25% of adult offenders can be classified as psychopaths (Serin et al., 2011). Offenders with psychopathic tendencies are often versatile in their offending, highly prolific, and have longer and more violent criminal careers compared to non-psychopathic offenders (Serin et al., 2011). Psychopathic tendencies are also positively correlated with sexual aggression (Porter et al., 2003), violent sexual offences (Brown and Forth, 1997), and sexual sadism (Knight and Guay, 2006), a paraphilia that includes sexual arousal to fantasies, urges, or acts of inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation onto another person (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Yet, not all psychopaths are criminals as many psychopathic individuals are able to function in society without offending (Serin et al., 2011). Rates of psychopathy in corporate positions have been estimated to be five times higher than those of the general population (Babiak et al., 2010) but this might still reflect negative societal effects as is echoed by Hare’s sentiment that “[we] are more likely to lose our life savings to an oily tongued swindler than our lives to a steely-eyed killer” (Hare, 1993). This great negative influence that the psychopathic population exerts onto society has spurred interest in creating a transtheoretical model capable of explaining the deficits behind key traits that ordinarily buffer or moderate the antisocial or violent behaviors that characterize psychopathy (Serin et al., 2011). The Fear Factor: Fear Deficits in Psychopathy as an Index of Limbic Dysregulation
Tweaking T Cell Bioenergetics

The functional status of lymphocytes is tightly linked to metabolism as glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration supply lymphocyte activation with necessary intermediates. It is currently accepted that resting lymphocytes such as naïve or memory T cells utilize oxidative phosphorylation for ATP production. Following activation, metabolism in T cells switches from catabolic to aerobic anabolic glycolysis and glutaminolysis. This transition is similar to metabolic shift in tumor cells, described as the Warburg effect [1,2]. In Warburgshifted activated T cells, glucose transport is upregulated leading to an overall rise in intracellular glucose levels that result in high production of pyruvate. Further, pyruvate is converted into lactate and secreted out of cells. Also, glycolytic reactions are involved in multiple metabolic pathways, such as pentose phosphate, responsible for synthesis of nucleotides and lipids necessary for the generation of daughter cells during cell divisions. At the same time, Fatty Acid β-Oxidation (FAO), catabolic metabolism of fatty acids, is down-modulated in activated T cells. Such T cell metabolic reprogramming is coordinated by engaged T Cell Receptor (TCR)-triggered intracellular pathways, for example, Akt/mTOR axis [1,2].
Time-cost relationship for residential construction in Texas

Studies indicate that there is a relationship between project cost and construction time for different construction markets. The purpose of this study is to validate the time-cost relationship model developed by Brolmilow et al. in context with residential construction projects in Texas. The data for the study was obtained from about 55 completed residential projects. The results indicate that Bromilow et al.’s model holds good for the Texas Construction Industry at the level of significance (p-value) of <0.0001.
Analysis of Traffic Safety on Roundabout Jadranska avenue - Avenue Dubrovnik in Zagreb

Iako se u Hrvatskoj kružna raskrižja primjenjuju vec 30-tak godina, sa stajalista sigurnosti prometa nedovoljno su istraživana. Posljedicama prometnih nesreca pretežito se bavi prometna policija, cestovna administracija i osiguravajuca drustva, pa se evidentirane nezgode mogu istraživati iz njihovih uviđaja, izvida steta i godisnjih izvjesca. Intenzivnija istraživanja sigurnosti kružnih raskrižja u Hrvatskoj zapocinju tek u zadnjih nekoliko godina, a temeljem provedenih istraživanja na 30 kružnih raskrižja grada Zagreba predocena je sustavna analiza prometnih nesreca na kružnom raskrižju Jadranska avenija – Avenija Dubrovnik.
Magnetopause surface oscillation frequencies at different solar wind conditions

Statistical analyses of the magnetopause (MP) motion observed by THEMIS suggested that the MP oscillates preferably at some prominent (sometimes called "magic") frequencies, which were found to stand out also in ground-based and ionospheric measurements of geomagnetic ultra-low frequency pulsations. In this paper we present an extension to these statistical analyses of the observed MP oscillations examining their dependence on the prevalent interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), solar wind (SW) flow speed and cone angle conditions as well as their local time of occurrence. Our results show enhanced oscillation activity at these frequencies in the noon local time sector during periods of northward IMF, slow or moderate SW speed and low SW cone angle. This combination of conditions supports an interpretation in terms of standing Alfvenic Kruskal-Schwarzschild surface modes on the MP.
Patch metrics of roosting site selection by Lyle’s flying fox (Pteropus lylei Andersen, 1908) in a human-dominated landscape in Thailand

Abstract The association between patch metrics and roosting site (n = 31) suitability of Lyle’s flying fox (Pteropus lylei) in 26 Central Eastern and Western provinces of Thailand was quantified. Land use classes with 90-m resolution were identified based on various vegetation and land cover types to calculate patch metrics using FRAGSTATS. Then, Maximum Entropy Modeling (MaxEnt) was performed using patch metrics covariates to produce a predictive potential distribution map. The results indicated that patch contiguity (contiguity index, 63.7%), patch area (29.3%), and patch shape complexity (shape index, 5.7%) are the most influential patch metrics, all of which have negative effects on roosting site suitability. In total, 13,222 small patches were considered highly suitable patches, with a mean area of 0.921 ± 0.698 (SD) ha, which accounted for 122,090 ha (2.04%) of the study area. Roosting sites predicted from the model were consistently associated with occurrences of roosting sites observed in temples; such habitats likely provide shelter from external threats for colonies roosting in a human-dominated landscape.
Opportunistic earnings manipulation among bankrupt unlisted firms - How and when they do that -

Firms’ bankruptcy is a problem not only related to companies but also affects social welfare. Analysing a matched sample of bankrupt and healthy unlisted companies from a code law institutional setting (Spain), this paper has three main objectives: it aims to demonstrate that bankrupt firms are more keen to manage financial statements in comparison with their non-bankrupt pairs; it investigates when and what practices they use; finally, it provides empirical evidence across time and sectors. Using proxies of sale and production cost manipulation, the results highlight upwards earnings manipulation among Spanish bankrupt firms in comparison with healthy ones, starting at least four years before the beginning of the legal procedure, sale and cost manipulation, used differently in each sector and across the time period investigated.
Child Health and the Income Gradient: Evidence from China

Though the positive income gradient of child health is well documented in developed countries, evidence from developing countries is rare. Few studies attempt to identify a causal link between family income and child health. Utilizing unique longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we have found a positive, age-enhancing income gradient of child health, measured by height-for-age z scores. The gradient is robust to alternative specifications and a comprehensive set of controls. Using the fact that the rural tax reform implemented since 2000 created an exogenous variation in family income across regions and over time, we explore a causal explanation for the income gradient, and find that it has a very strong independent causal effect on child health.