Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SEISMIC RELIABILITY OF MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS EQUIPPED WITH VISCOUS DAMPERS

Viscous dampers are energy dissipation devices widely employed for the seismic control of new and existing building frames. To date, the performance of systems equipped with viscous dampers has been extensively analyzed by employing deterministic approaches, i.e. by using a one-to-one relationship between the seismic intensity and a response parameters (usually coinciding with the mean response of a set of ground motions with a specific intensity level). However, these approaches neglects the response dispersion due to input uncertainties (the site seismic hazard condition and the record-torecord variability effects) as well as uncertainties of dampers properties. A more comprehensive performance assessment can be carried out by using probabilistic methodologies cable of fully accounting for different sources of uncertainty and the relevant effects on the structural reliability. This paper analyzes the probabilistic seismic performance of building frames equipped with viscous dampers by adopting a probabilistic methodology based on response hazard curves, providing the mean annual frequency (MAF) of exceedance of the response parameters of interest for the performance assessment of building structural and non-structural components and dampers. Finally, in order to quantify the difference between the demands evaluated by the probabilistic and deterministic approaches, ratios (REDP) between the probabilistic demand (characterized by different values of the MAF of exceedance) and the deterministic demand are evaluated. An application example is developed by considering a multi-storey steel frame selected from the SAC Phase II project and widely used in studies on seismic response control problems. A set of cases involving dampers with different exponents α designed for the same deterministic performance objective at a reference seismic intensity is considered. The probability distribution and the demand hazard of the response parameters of interest are evaluated and discussed in a range of variation of annual frequency of exceedance spanning from service to ultimate limit states, considering a range of the nonlinear exponent spanning from 0.15 to 1.00. Particular attention is focused on response parameters relevant to dampers (stroke and force). The ratios R are calculated from these parameters and the obtained values may be interpreted as amplification factors to be applied to the deterministic demand in order to obtain a desired safety level for the damper design. It is shown that the damper nonlinearity strongly affects the building and dampers performance and different trends are observed for different demand parameters. A comparison with code provisions shows that amplification factors currently used for the structural design provide non-homogeneous safety levels and should be improved by considering response variations due to the linear/nonlinear behaviour of the viscous dampers.
WHY CHOOSE THE PROBATION SERVICE?

At a time of major re-organisation through the development of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) that brings together the work of the probation and prison services, this paper explores what it is that draws people into a career involving work with offenders. It asks the questions ‘what is it about working with offending behaviour that attracts people to this career’ and are the ‘right’ people being selected for training. It draws on a small research study that asked applicants to and students on, one of the prequalifying ‘Diploma in Probation Studies’ (DipPS) programmes in the UK, to comment on their reasons for choosing this career. It concludes that, like most other health and social care public sector organisations, the probation service is continuing to attract more women than men, based on a perception that, despite the rhetoric of ‘punishment and control’ it continues to be seen primarily as a service that ‘helps people’, and that this is a stronger influencing factor for women than it is for men in career choice.
Nickel Phosphide Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

The production of hydrogen through electrochemical water splitting driven by clean energy becomes a sustainable route for utilization of hydrogen energy, while an efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst is required to achieve a high energy conversion efficiency. Nickel phosphides have been widely explored for electrocatalytic HER due to their unique electronic properties, efficient electrocatalytic performance, and a superior anti-corrosion feature. However, the HER activities of nickel phosphide electrocatalysts are still low for practical applications in electrolyzers, and further studies are necessary. Therefore, at the current stage, a specific comprehensive review is necessary to focus on the progresses of the nickel phosphide electrocatalysts. This review focuses on the developments of preparation approaches of nickel phosphides for HER, including a mechanism of HER, properties of nickel phosphides, and preparation and electrocatalytic HER performances of nickel phosphides. The progresses of the preparation and HER activities of the nickel phosphide electrocatalysts are mainly discussed by classification of the preparation method. The comparative surveys of their HER activities are made in terms of experimental metrics of overpotential at a certain current density and Tafel slope together with the preparation method. The remaining challenges and perspectives of the future development of nickel phosphide electrocatalysts for HER are also proposed.
Multi-Label Text Classification with Transfer Learning for Policy Documents

We created and analyzed a text classification dataset from freely-available web documents from the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. We then used it to train and compare different multi-label text classifiers with the aim of exploring the alternatives for methods that facilitate the search of information of this type of documents. We explored the effectiveness of deep learning and transfer learning in text classification by fine-tuning different pre-trained language representations — Word2Vec, GloVe, ELMo, ULMFiT and BERT. We also compared these approaches against a baseline of more traditional algorithms without using transfer learning. More specifically, we used multinomial Naive Bayes, logistic regression, k-nearest neighbors and Support Vector Machines. We then analyzed the results of our experiments quantitatively and qualitatively. The best results in terms of micro-averaged F1 scores and AUROC are obtained by BERT. However, it is also interesting that the second best classifier in terms of micro-averaged F1 scores is the Support Vector Machines, closely followed by the logistic regression classifier, which both have the advantage of being less computationally expensive than BERT. The results also show a close relation between our dataset size and the effectiveness of the classifiers.
Clientele, Information Sales, and Asset Prices

We examine sales of financial market information in an economy with two information sellers. In equilibrium, the two sellers form either orthogonal or overlapping clientele, depending on the similarity of the information to be sold. When the two sellers' information is very distinct and sellers have relatively large bargaining power in sharing trading profits, investors' information purchase behavior exhibits complementarity, leading to the possibility of multiple equilibria. This result connects the complementarity in signals to strategic complementarity in actions. We also show that the information-market structure is crucial in determining asset prices and financial market quality.
Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds during the OCTAVE Campaign: Sources and Distributions of Formaldehyde on Reunion Island

The Oxygenated Compounds in the Tropical Atmosphere: Variability and Exchanges (OCTAVE) campaign aimed to improve the assessment of the budget and role of oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) in tropical regions, and especially over oceans, relying on an integrated approach combining in situ measurements, satellite retrievals, and modeling. As part of OCTAVE, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured using a comprehensive suite of instruments on Reunion Island (21.07° S, 55.38° E) from 7 March to 2 May 2018. VOCs were measured at a receptor site at the Maïdo observatory during the entire campaign and at two source sites: Le Port from 19 to 24 April 2018 (source of anthropogenic emissions) and Bélouve from 25 April to 2 May 2018 (source of biogenic emissions) within a mobile lab. The Maïdo observatory is a remote background site located at an altitude of 2200 m, whereas Bélouve is located in a tropical forest to the east of Maïdo and Le Port is an urban area located northwest of Maïdo. The major objective of this study was to understand the sources and distributions of atmospheric formaldehyde (HCHO) in the Maïdo observatory on Reunion Island. To address this objective, two different approaches were used to quantify and determine the main drivers of HCHO at Maïdo. First, a chemical-kinetics-based (CKB) calculation method was used to determine the sources and sinks (biogenic, anthropogenic/primary, or secondary) of HCHO at the Maïdo site. The CKB method shows that 9% of the formaldehyde formed from biogenic emissions and 89% of HCHO had an unknown source; that is, the sources cannot be explicitly described by this method. Next, a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was applied to characterize the VOC source contributions at Maïdo. The PMF analysis including VOCs measured at the Maïdo observatory shows that the most robust solution was obtained with five factors: secondary biogenic accounting for 17%, primary anthropogenic/solvents (24%), primary biogenic (14%), primary anthropogenic/combustion (22%), and background (23%). The main contributions to formaldehyde sources as described by the PMF model are secondary biogenic (oxidation of biogenic VOCs with 37%) and background (32%). Some assumptions were necessary concerning the high percentage of unknown HCHO sources of the CKB calculation method such as the biogenic emission factor resulting in large discrepancies between the two methods.
STRENGTHENING WITH CFRP SHEET FOR RC FLEXURAL MEMBER DETERIORATED BY REINFORCING STEEL CORROSION

In this study, in order to establish an application scheme of a carbon fiber reinforced plastic sheet (hereafter, CFRP sheet) for strengthening an RC flexural member deteriorated by corrosion of reinforcing steel bar (rebar), RC flexural members strengthened using CFRP sheet with corroded rebar are subjected to a flexural loading test. In the experiment, corrosion mass loss rate and volumetric confinement ratio achieved by CFRP sheet were varied. Corrosion of rebar was simulated by the accelerated corrosion method using a DC power supply. The results show that RC flexural members strengthened by confinement using CFRP sheet may fail to attain significant improvement in flexural ductility, since the rupture of longitudinal rebar, whose elongation is decreased by corrosion, occurred before compression failure at the flexural compression zone. The results also show that cracking due to corrosion of rebar reduced the flexural loading capacity and ductility of RC flexural members confined using the CFRP sheet, since the corrosion cracks reduced the compressive strength and ultimate strain of confined concrete in the flexural compression zone. Based on the results, a calculation method for ductility strengthening design, which takes into consideration the degradation of elongation in corroded rebars and longitudinal distribution of curvature, is presented.
WAVE PROPAGATION AND SOURCE MODELS FOR SYNTHETIC SEISMOGRAMS COMPATIBLE WITH STRONG MOTION APPLICATIONS

The goal of this project is to generate realistic strong motion synthetic seismograms at distances of engineering significance, with emphasis on parameterizing the models with variables that are in standard use by seismologists. This approach is transferable to new regions, where strong motion data are sparse. Wave propagation is approximated with thin, flat, attenuating layers to approximate the local velocity gradient found by exploration seismology. The method produces seismograms with appropriately-polarized P-waves, S-waves, and surface waves. The attenuation model has high values of Q in the crustal waveguide (e.g. >5 km deep) to reproduce the distance dependence of the spectral amplitudes and of the spectral decay parameter (kappa), and low values of Q in shallow soil layers to reproduce the values of kappa extrapolated to zero distance (kappa-0). The application we describe here simulates a M7.65 earthquake, approximating the southern end of where the 1857 rupture of the San Andreas fault passed Lovejoy Buttes with about 4 m of slip. Precarious rocks at Lovejoy Buttes mostly appear old enough that they survived the 1857 earthquake. Within the range of observed physical values for the input parameters, we can generate synthetic seismograms that topple very few of these rocks, and others that topple most of them. Thus calibrating with precarious rocks, the composite source model has the potential to explore source physics parameters as well as to provide realistic, constrained ground motions from future great earthquakes.
Compiler-Based Code-Improvement Techniques

Since the earliest days of compilation, code quality has been recognized as an important problem [18]. A rich literature has developed around the issue of improving code quality. This paper surveys one part of that literature: code transformations intended to improve the running time of programs on uniprocessor machines. This paper emphasizes transformations intended to improve code quality rather than analysis methods. We describe analytical techniques and specific data-flow problems to the extent that they are necessary to understand the transformations. Other papers provide excellent summaries of the various sub-fields of program analysis. The paper is structured around a simple taxonomy that classifies transformations based on how they change the code. The taxonomy is populated with example transformations drawn from the literature. Each transformation is described at a depth that facilitates broad understanding; detailed references are provided for deeper study of individual transformations. The taxonomy provides the reader with a framework for thinking about code-improving transformations. It also serves as an organizing principle for the paper.
Rheological behaviour and yield characterization of gum from local strains: Xanthomonas hortorum pv. pelargonii and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. begonia

Xanthan production capacity of local isolates X. hortorum pv. pelargonii and X. axonopodis pv. begonia were investigated by systematically changing fermentation conditions. Optimum yields were found as 11.19 g/L, 9.72 g/L and 9.65 g/L and for standard isolate X. campestris DSM 19000, X. hortorum pv. pelargonii and X. axonopodis pv. begonia , respectively. Optimum agitation rate and inoculum volume were found as 180 rpm and 5%. Moreover, better gel forming and thickening properties were obtained for xanthan gum from local isolates. Higher K value was observed for gum solutions of the local isolates at all concentration when Ostwald de Waele model was used. Activation energies changed between 4.85 and 25.43 kJ/mol and it is the highest for gum from standard isolate. Moreover, K’ and K ” values obtained from dynamic rheological analysis were higher for the local isolates than that of standard isolate. The results confirmed that the local isolates appeared to be suitable microorganisms for xanthan gum production.
Logistic Regression Analysis of Factors Affecting Travel Mode Choice for Disaster Evacuation

The relationships were analyzed among the factors affecting the travel mode choice between government vehicles and private vehicles used for the evacuation of people in areas experiencing floods and landslides. The relationships were developed using a utility function to predict the probability and proportion for selection of the travel mode in future evacuations based on binary logistic regression. Three models were developed using different analytical factors based on the survey data of a sample group of people in the Mae Pong watershed, Laplae district, Uttaradit province, Thailand. It was found that the factors affecting the selection of travel mode in all three models consisted of sex, household size, families with young members, education, car ownership, experienced a disaster, recognition of shelter location, safety of evacuees while evacuating, reaching the destination quickly, convenience of vehicle access, proportional family management for evacuation, ease of the evacuation procedures of mode, and difference between travel time and walking time to the assembly point. Models 1, 2, and 3 could predict with accuracies of 78.40, 73.46, and 75.30 percent, respectively.
Untreated Pain at End-of-Life: Experiences of Family Carers Who Oversee Home Death in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A Historical Narrative Review of the Qualitative Literature

I am not a medical person or an academic. A voice from the community of Africa’s frontline informal family carers of the terminally-ill, I nursed my mother in an African village and witnessed her dying process in my first death management experience. While caregiving in a modern facility in New Zealand shortly afterwards, I anticipated seeing dying people writhing and croaking in death-throes. But I observed a different manner of dying. As death happened, I questioned why my mother died so violently for 27 hours, and decided to educate myself on Sub-Saharan African palliative care.
COMPARING DURABILITY OF WOOD MATERIAL IN NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL WEATHERING CONDITIONS

The performance of pre-treated and non-treated wood material samples (Fagus orientalis L. and Pinus sylvestris L.) subjected to outdoor conditions were examined in this study. A thermal treatment method, impregnation with MCQ and acrylic resin containing UV absorbers were used for wood protection and coating in the preservation process. The colour change parameters and the decrease rates of the compression strength were determined for the samples exposed in the outdoor tests. The natural weathering test applied to wood samples in the Sürmene coastal in the province Trabzon in Turkey was simulated artificially in QUV test cabinet. As a result the 50-60% similarity rate between the surface degradation of wood samples exposed to natural weathering and QUV test cabinet was determined by the statistical analysis.
Fact–Value Conflation and the Study of Intelligence

Some prominent scientists and philosophers have stated openly that moral and political considerations should influence whether we accept or promulgate scientific theories. This widespread view has significantly influenced the development, and public perception, of intelligence research. Theories related to group differences in intelligence are often rejected a priori on explicitly moral grounds. Thus the idea, frequently expressed by commentators on science, that science is “self-correcting”—that hypotheses are simply abandoned when they are undermined by empirical evidence—may not be correct in all contexts. In this paper, documentation spanning from the early 1970s to the present is collected, which reveals the influence of scientists’ moral and political commitments on the study of intelligence. It is suggested that misrepresenting findings in science to achieve desirable social goals will ultimately harm both science and society.
High prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux in vocal opera students. A case-control type study

Background Opera singers are at risk to develop gastroesophageal reflux, because of the vocational challenges during singing. The singers are reluctant to be submitted to pH-metry fearing throat injuries. We evaluated the gastroesophageal reflux in vocal opera students using a non-invasive salivary test. Design and setting A prospective, case-control study was carried out in 30 vocal opera students from the Music Academy of the city Cluj-Napoca, Romania, enrolled in the “canto” section. Methods For control, 20 medical students and residents were enrolled. Each subject filled in a questionnaire and gave saliva samples for the salivary test Peptest™ (RD Biomed). The statistical analysis was made using program R version 3.2. 1 (2015-06-18). Results According to salivary Peptest, vocal opera students had a higher prevalence of gastro-esophageal reflux than the control group (96.67% versus 30%; 29 from 30 vs 14 from 20), P<0.001. Only 50% (15 of 30) of the vocal opera students reported reflux symptoms. Conclusions Salivary Peptest confirmed a higher prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux in vocal opera students, although not all of them reported reflux symptoms.
The Zurich Study III Diagnosis of Depression

A 23 to 24-year-old age group representative of the general population of the Canton of Zurich, was used to detect depression The classifications obtained by means of the Feighner, RDC and DSM-III criteria are compared with our own concept, which differs in some aspects A minimum of 2 weeks of depression is labeled as EDE (extensive depressive episode) Instead of the presence of a minimum number of depressive symptoms, social impairment at work is first examined as a case-defining criterion (EDElWORKl); in a second step, a diagnostic threshold of three, and five, depressive symptoms for males and females respectively is adopted (EDElSYMl) The consequences are presented relating to prevalence, incidence, sex distribution, overlap with other diagnostic concepts, severity, bipolarity and family history. An unequal sex distribution in depression is shown to be an artifact of definition. Preference should go to a case-definition that could be specifically adapted to a given problem On the whole, the DSM-III and EDE(WORK) criteria appear to be too broad We will henceforth prefer the RDC and EDE(SYM) criteria, which both, however, necessitate further methodological and empirical study.
Experimental investigation of multi-scale entrainment processes of a turbulent jet

A combination of particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) experiments were undertaken to study entrainment processes in the far-field of a round, turbulent jet. The experiments were performed using water as the test medium and a passive dye with a Schmidt number Sc ≫ 1 to identify the turbulent/non-turbulent interface of the jet. The Reynolds number based on the nozzle exit is 25,300 and the Reynolds number based on the Taylor microscale is Reλ ≈ 360, which is considerably higher than existing studies of turbulent/non-turbulent interfaces in jets. Independent 2D PIV and PLIF measurements confirmed that the self-similar profiles of velocity and scalar concentration collapse well in the far field. The scaling coefficients of centreline velocity decay and jet half-width also agree well with the classical scaling laws of turbulent jets. Simultaneous, time-resolved multi-scale-PIV/PLIF measurements were performed in the streamwise plane of the jet about the location z = 50D. A description of this set-up is given and the multi-scale velocity data is validated. We show that there is a constant ratio between the instantaneous and averaged interfacial surface areas for a range of scalar thresholds, which is analogous to distance from the turbulent jet core.