Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RETROREFLECTIVE ROAD SIGNS: VISIBILITY AT NIGHT

The legibility of retroreflective road markings, and in particular of signs, depends on many parameters, notably the luminance contrast between the message and the ground of the sign. For a given level of illumination, the luminance contrast itself depends on the retroreflection coefficients (R') of the materials used. There are a number of retroreflective products, which have different values of R', on the market. The present study was aimed at determining how variations in R' affect visibility distance (d) at night for a driver at the wheel of his vehicle, the headlights of which illuminate the sign. In the first stage, a small-scale experiment (approximately 1/10th scale) was conducted in the laboratory to identify the variables. Legibility thresholds were determined by presenting different combinations of the alphabets and colors used on road signs to observers at different luminance contrast levels. In the second stage, working from these results, simulations were carried out to quantify the influence of the various parameters, in particular R' and d. It was found that R' is only one of the parameters that affect d. Most often, multiplying R' by 3 increases d by only 30 percent. But the dimensions of the letters used for the messages play a preponderant and limiting role because of their direct relationship to visual acuity. According to earlier experiments, other parameters that are harder to quanify (incident illumination of the signs by vehicle headlamps; dirt on the headlamps, on the signs, on the windscreens; and weather conditions) are important and may require a correction of d ranging from 0 to 100 percent. The results are compared with those of similar studies carried out in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, and Japan.
Distance Delivery of Function-Based Skill Training for Providers in Rural Settings

Children with diagnosed disabilities, teachers and classroom staff, and families living in rural areas have difficulty accessing any and all behavioral services, including parent training, due to a lack of providers, distance to clinics, cost of transportation, low income and/or inadequate health insurance, and confidentiality concerns from living in small communities. In this study, Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) was used to train early childhood professionals on how to implement Prevent–Teach–Reinforce for Young Children, which is a step-by-step manualized approach to the assessment and treatment of challenging behavior that reflects a commitment to evidence-based practice. Results of the pilot study, study limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Effect of Brown-rotted Wood on Mechanical Properties and Ultrasonic Velocity

Numerical analysis model was used to analyse the behaviors of multiple bolted connections. Axial-bending element was supposed as basic model, and the effects of frame members and steel fasteners were classified for the behavior analysis. In the condition only two bolts were used, the traditional analytical methods, which show somewhat accuracy, have some advantages more than numerical analysis that need many time consuming, However, more many bolts were used in practical field condition. Also, it is impossible to analyse the behaviors of various bolts layouts and arrangements conditions by traditional analytical methods. Therefore, there is only numerical analysis method for the accurate behavioranalysis on the practical bolted connection condition. Therefore, numerical analysis method was applied on the various multiple bolted connections. On the result exactness and the reflection of connection condition, numerical analysis method showed the superiority more than widely used traditional empirical analysis methods as yield model.
Effects of Pellet Die Heat and Pressure on Pellet Quality and Broiler Lysine Utilization

The objective of this study was to identify feed manufacture techniques that alter lysine availability as indicated by broiler performance in the finishing phase, diet furfural content, and true amino acid digestibility. Production rate, pellet die specification, and level of mixer-added fat (MAF) influence feed exposure to pellet die frictional heat and pressure that may alter chemical structure of ingredients. Lysine has been indicated as a nutrient with potential to be structurally altered, especially in the presence of heat and reducing sugars, as in Maillard reactions; decreasing nutrient availability. A practical diet containing 7.5% bakery by-product meal and 0.13% lysine HCl was formulated to 90% of the lysine recommendation by CobbVantress to be below the perceived safety margin associated with breeder recommendations and best demonstrate lysine availability differences when manufactured and fed. This diet was utilized in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design that evaluated the main effects of production rate (0.5 or 0.8 tonne/hr), pellet mill die thickness (38.1 or 44.5 mm), and MAF level (0.5 or 3%) on feed manufacture, broiler performance, and processing yield. Two additional treatments: unprocessed mash and double pelleted (exposed twice to 0.5 tonne/hr production using a 4.5mm die after 0.5% MAF) were also manufactured and fed. All diets, excluding mash, were steam conditioned at 82C and ground prior to feeding. Pellet mill electrical energy usage, pellet quality, and bulk density were increased with 0.5 tonne/hr production rate, 44.5 mm pellet die, and 0.5% MAF processing treatments (P=0.0001); indicating greater feed exposure to pellet die frictional heat and pressure. Bird performance and carcass characteristics were not affected by main effects (P>0.05); however, contrasts demonstrated that mash fed birds had decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with double pelleted fed birds, with birds fed diets from the factorial treatments being intermediate (P<0.05). To determine if the mechanism of action responsible for the FCR effects included lysine digestibility, diets were analyzed for furfural, an intermediate of the Maillard reaction pathway, and assessed for true amino acid digestibility using cecectomized roosters. Furfural concentration was not altered due to processing treatment (P > 0.05). In addition, no differences in lysine digestibility or the digestibility of any other tested amino acid were apparent (P > 0.05). Therefore, lysine availability, as assessed with this specific methodology, does not appear to be decreased due to pelleting.
The Impact of Regulatory Quality on the Nexus between Life Insurance Development and Economic Growth: Evidence from European Developing Countries

The purpose of this study is to explore whether the regulatory quality influences the relation between life insurance development and economic growth by applying a nonlinear panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model. Using the data from Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) to assess the soundness of regulatory quality, this paper finds that the relationship between life insurance development and economic growth is significantly positive in the countries with relatively better regulatory quality. Our findings not only indicate that sound regulatory quality could encourage the growth effect of life insurance sectors but also have far-reaching practical implications for other economies to realize regulatory quality should matter for the development of the economic growth.
Assessing the potential use of Envision in the sustainability certification of road projects with conservation authorities in Ontario

Conservation Authorities (CAs) in Ontario are challenged with improving the sustainability of road planning and design through their programs and policies under the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act (OEAA) and the CA Act. This study examines whether CAs should endorse the voluntary Envision Infrastructure Sustainability Rating System to supplement their roles under the OEAA and the CA Act and regulations. This study applied Envision to a sample of 13 municipal road projects through a standardized document review. It found that Envision was able to differentiate between more and less sustainable road projects, that award achievement required sustainable actions beyond those which are standard practice, and that Envision is appropriate to apply to road projects that are planned through the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process of the OEAA. This study concludes that the Envision framework has the potential to significantly improve the sustainability of road projects and should be endorsed by CAs.
Fractional-order systems and control : fundamentals and applications

Fundamentals of Fractional-order Systems and Controls. - Fundamentals of Fractional-order Systems. - State-space Representation and Analysis. - Fundamentals of Fractional-order Control. - Fractional-order PID-Type Controllers. - Fractional-order Proportional Integral Controller Tuning for First-order Plus Delay Time Plants. - Fractional-order Proportional Derivative Controller Tuning for Motion Systems. - Fractional-order Proportional Integral Derivative Controllers. - Fractional-order Lead-lag Compensators. - Tuning of Fractional-order Lead-lag Compensators. - Auto-tuning of Fractional-order Lead-lag Compensators. - Other Fractional-order Control Strategies. - Other Robust Control Techniques. - Some Nonlinear Fractional-order Control Strategies. - Implementations of Fractional-order Controllers: Methods and Tools. - Continuous-time and Discrete-time Implementations of Fractional-order Controllers. - Numerical Issues and MATLAB Implementations for Fractional-order Control Systems. - Real Applications. - Systems Identification. - Position Control of a Single-link Flexible Robot. - Automatic Control of a Hydraulic Canal. - Mechatronics. - Fractional-order Control Strategies for Power Electronic Buck Converters.
Factors influencing the sustained utilization of child welfare services among children 18 to 59 months in a low-income rural community.

ABSTRACT Background: Despite substantial progress in reducing child mortality, concerted efforts remain necessary to avoid preventable deaths in children under-5 years and to accelerate progress in improving child survival further. The patronage of child welfare services therefore remains paramount to the attainment of these goals. This study identified the factors that influence the patronage of child welfare services in a rural community in the Ho West District of the Volta region. Methodology: The study employed a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design. Systematic sampling method was used to select 310 caregivers of children less than 60 months in the catchment area of the Abutia kloe sub district. Questionnaire was used to collect data from study respondents. The data was entered into a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet and cleaned and subsequently exported to SPSS (version 22.0) for the data analysis. Data was analysed into simple descriptive statistics Results: The results showed that a significant number of respondents (44.2%) had defaulted at a point during the continued growth monitoring process. The reasons for the default included children had completed major immunization (72.3%), children had started school (57.4%), and poor staff attitude (3.2%). Noteworthy, It depicts that majority of mothers have an idea about the purpose of Growth chart (68%). It is also worth noting that 86.5% of mothers are able to access a Child Welfare Clinic in less than thirty minutes. In addition, the results pointed out that there is a strong association between the level of caregivers’ education and CWC attendance with a chi-square test of 3 and a P-value less than 0.05. Conclusion: Healthcare providers should intensify education on the need to continue growth monitoring up to 59 months even after the completion of major immunization. This goal can be attained if growth monitoring is incorporated into school health activities while policy implementers ensure the full implementation.
Telemetry experiments with a hibernating black bear

The objectives of this research were to develop and test telemetry equipment suitable for monitoring physiological parameters and activity of a hibernating bear in its den, to monitor this data and other environmental information with the Nimbus 3 IRLS data collection system, and to refine immobilizing, handling, and other techniques required in future work with wild bears under natural conditions. A temperature-telemetering transmitter was implanted in the abdominal cavity of a captive black bear and body temperature data was recorded continuously during a 3 month hibernation period. Body temperatures ranging between 37.5 and 31.8 C were observed. Body temperature and overall activity were influenced by disturbances and ambient den temperature. Nychthemeral temperature changes were not noticable. A load cell weight recording device was tested for determining weight loss during hibernation. Monitoring of data by satellite was not attempted. The implanted transmitter was removed and the bear was released with a radiolocation collar at the conclusion of the experiment.
Dietary Patterns of University Students in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: University students might have poor diet quality. The aim of this study is to identify the dietary patterns of university students and assess their association with different socio-demographic, anthropometric and lifestyle factors. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted on students attending the University of Jordan, in a time period between September and November 2019. METHODS: A total of 664 students (469 females and 195 males aged between 17-30 years with a mean age (SD) of 19.7± 1.8), were included in this study. Data was collected using a survey consistent of two parts; socio-demographic, lifestyle, eating habits questions and a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The FFQ consisted of 55 food items/subgroups, and was specifically designed for this study. Body weight and height were measured by a trained dietitian. Principle component analysis was used to generate the dietary patterns. Associations between dietary patterns with different variables were measured through general linear modelling.RESULTS: Three main dietary patterns were identified: ‘snacking’, ‘healthy’ and ‘accessible’. Mean factor scores of the snacking pattern increased with less healthy aspects such as obesity or being underweight, smoking and being physically inactive. While factor scores for the healthy pattern increased with healthier aspects such as physically activity, having three or more meals per day and considering breakfast as the main meal of the day, and this pattern was largely followed by male students. Finally, the accessible pattern had higher scores for students living with their family and having three or more meals per day. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide an understanding to the dietary patterns of university students along with related factors (socio-demographic, lifestyle, eating habits). It has identified a number of precursors of both healthy and unhealthy dietary practices. These finding are important for the conceptualization of multi behavioral programs and public health interventions.
Marketing Cultural Organisations: New Strategies for Attracting Audiences to Classical Music, Dance, Museums, Theatre and Opera

Cultural organizations have long been protected from from the harsh realities of the marketplace by relying on wealthy patrons or public subsidies. But as these sources of finance become scarcer, they now find that they have to compete for an audience.This book describes the new environment in which cultural organisations now operate and how the more innovative ones are re-thinking their marketing strategies.
RNA-Seq Explores the Mechanism of Oxygen-Boosted Sonodynamic Therapy Based on All-in-One Nanobubbles to Enhance Ferroptosis for the Treatment of HCC

Background The combination of sonodynamic therapy and oxygenation strategy is widely used in cancer treatment. However, due to the complexity, heterogeneity and irreversible hypoxic environment produced by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, oxygen-enhancing sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has failed to achieve the desired results. With the emergence of ferroptosis with reactive oxygen species (ROS) cytotoxicity, this novel cell death method has attracted widespread attention. Methods In this study, nanobubbles (NBs) were connected with the sonosensitizer Indocyanine green (ICG) to construct a 2-in-1 nanoplatform loaded with RAS-selective lethal (RSL3, ferroptosis promoter) (RSL3@O2-ICG NBs), combined with oxygen-enhanced SDT and potent ferroptosis. In addition, nanobubbles (NBs) combined with low-frequency ultrasound (LFUS) are called ultrasound-targeted nanobubble destruction (UTND) to ensure specific drug release and improve safety. Results MDA/GSH and other related experimental results show that RSL3@O2-ICG NBs can enhance SDT and ferroptosis. Through RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), the differential expression of LncRNA and mRNA before and after synergistic treatment was identified, and then GO and KEGG pathways were used to enrich and analyze target genes and pathways related ferroptosis sensitivity. We found that they were significantly enriched in the ferroptosis-related pathway MAPK cascade and cell proliferation. Then, we searched for the expression of differentially expressed genes in the TCGA Hepatocellular carcinoma cohort. At the same time, we evaluated the proportion of immune cell infiltration and the identification of co-expression network modules and related prognostic analysis. We found that it was significantly related to the tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The prognostic risk genes “SLC37A2” and “ITGB7” may represent new hepatocellular carcinoma ferroptosis-inducing markers and have guiding significance for treating hepatocellular carcinoma. Conclusion The therapeutic effect of the in vitro synergistic treatment has been proven to be significant, revealing the prospect of 2-in-1 nanobubbles combined with SDT and ferroptosis in treating HCC.
Health and Wellness Programs for Commercial Drivers

This synthesis will be useful to federal and state agencies, commercial truck and bus operators, and others interested in improving commercial vehicle safety. The synthesis provides a state of the practice of commercial driver health and wellness programs. It provides a review of literature on truck and motorcoach driver health issues, highlighting the chief health risks facing commercial drivers; presents an analytical review of literature associating crash causation with functional impairments affecting abilities of commercial motor vehicle drivers to drive safely; describes elements of employee health and wellness programs that could apply to commercial drivers; provides the results of a survey of trucking and motorcoach companies who have already implemented employee health and wellness programs and documents the components that are presently being offered to their drivers; and offers several case studies of successful employee health and wellness programs in the truck and motorbus industries, focusing on the elements that appear to work effectively.
Decarbonising the English residential sector: modelling policies, technologies and behaviour within a heterogeneous building stock

It is now widely accepted that the residential sector offers significant potential for carbon mitigation. This is true for both the overall magnitude of emissions reductions and the cost per tonne of CO2(eq) mitigated. However, both the scope and scale of potential carbon mitigation pathways remain controversial. The pace of decarbonisation is also openly debated. Examples of some of these contentions include: centralised versus decentralised energy supply; energy efficiency versus low carbon generation; demolition versus renovation of the existing building stock and behaviour change versus technological solutions. Incontrovertibly, any one of these seemingly apparent tensions is not mutually exclusive, and the ultimate decarbonisation pathway will likely consist of most if not all of these proposed solutions being implemented to some varying degree. Despite the significant potential for carbon mitigation in the built environment, deep cuts have not yet materialised. It is argued that this lack of progress stems from a poor understanding of the highly complex socio-economic, socio-dynamic and technical physical systems that underpin energy use in dwellings.Modelling this requires requires novel methods capable of capturing the complexities that arise from government policies, physical processes and technologies, human behaviour and economics. Moreover, as the effects of climate change are directly caused by the global stock of CO2(eq) in the atmosphere, the pace of decarbonisation is pivotal. New methods may prove important for representing the interactions that occur between technological sub-systems but also for modelling how the system may change over time, including feedbacks and delays endogenous to the system. The motivation for this thesis aims to explore decarbonisation opportunities from the residential sector by adopting an integrated systems perspective whilst maintaining the complexity and heterogeneity that naturally exists within the residential sector and between people.
The Influence of Unknown Media on Public Opinion: Evidence from Local and Foreign News Sources

In the Internet era, people can encounter a vast array of political news outlets, many with which they are unfamiliar. These unknown media outlets are notable because they represent potential sources of misinformation and coverage with a distinctive slant. We use two large survey experiments to consider how source familiarity influences political communication. Although this demonstrates the public is averse to consuming news from unfamiliar media, we show that—conditional on exposure to them—unknown local and foreign media sources can influence public opinion to an extent similar to established mainstream news outlets on the same issues. This comparable effectiveness stems from the public’s charitable evaluations of the credibility of unfamiliar news sources and their relatively low trust in familiar mainstream media. We find avoidance of unknown news outlets, not resistance to their coverage, is the primary factor limiting their political influence.