Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utvärdering av studiecirkelbaserad motorsågskörkortsutbildning

A large number of people in Sweden use chainsaws and injuries are unfortunately common. To decrease the number of injuries a voluntarily ’chainsaw driver license’ has been developed, and is awarded individuals who through theoretical and practical examinations have proved their skills in safe chainsaw work. To get prepared for the examinations, educations are available either as courses or as study circles. Study circles are signified by the lack of formal tutor and are therefore based on participatory learning. The study circle based education is mainly aimed for the large number of non-professional chainsaw users. The aim of the study was to evaluate the study circle education’s short and medium term effects on theoretical knowledge in safe chainsaw work. Moreover, it aimed for identifying demands, drivers and obstacles for chainsaw education among self-employed forest owners. The theoretical examination was redone by 31 unprepared individuals a little more than one year after they had undergone study circle education and approval for the B-level chainsaw driver license. The test results was on average one point lower (6 %) and 74 % of the individuals did still pass the approval limit. To take the chainsaw driver license through study circle education implies, hence, that the participants more than a year after the examination still remembers and consequently have the possibility to employ the theoretical knowledge that is considered necessary for safe and efficient chainsaw work. Study circle participants were generally very satisfied with the education and felt that they had reached the educational goals. Long-lasting knowledge and pleased participants indicates the appropriateness of study circles for chainsaw education. How well the education’s practical elements are managed and applied after the examination is, however, unknown for both study circles and other educational forms. Hence, further research on the topic is recommended. The opinion to chainsaw education was investigated among visitors to the forest fair SkogsNolia 2007 and among persons recommended by those who redid the theoretical examination. Drivers for educational interest were connected to both work safety and efficiency, but the willingness to pay was very low. Neither age, sex nor forest ownership affected the interest or the willingness to pay. Relatively un-experienced chainsaw users seem to be easiest to recruit for chainsaw education. However, for novices the requirement of own equipment might be repelling while most experienced individuals not are likely to consider the education useful. The education was preferred to be given intensively during nights and week-ends, which is a combination of the set-up of study circles and courses. Consequently, both educational forms seem to be needed.
A semantic matchmaking system for job recruitment

Students and workers mobility in the European scenario represents today a big challenge. During the last years, several initiatives have been carried out to deal with the above picture, being the European Qualication Framework (EQF), a common architecture for describing qualications, one of the most signicant. In parallel, several research activities were established with the aim of exploiting semantic technologies for qualication comparison in the context of human resources acquisition. In this paper, the EQF specications are applied in a practical scenario to develop a ranking algorithm allowing for qualication comparison on the basis of knowledge, skill and competence concepts, potentially aimed at supporting European employers during the recruitment phases
A FAULT TREE MODEL OF BRIDGE DETERIORATION

Bridge management systems (BMS) have provided State and Metropolitan Planning Organizations with a systematic approach to bridge programming. While BMS are continually improving, those available fail to address the issue of element interaction. The fact that the deterioration of one bridge element may accelerate that of another is not acknowledged. Fault tree analysis, which is a graphical depiction of the various failure paths that lead to an undesirable outcome, offers a systematic method of organizing the element interactions that contribute to bridge deterioration. In addition to visually uncoupling the interaction of the bridge system components, the tree sets forth logical interrelationships that may be applied qualitatively to explain the system deterioration process and quantitatively to arrive at various probabilities of bridge deterioration. The integration of fault tree analysis into current BMS provides the missing link between component condition and structural system performance for structures cataloged in the bridge management systems. The fault tree analysis presented in this paper gives an approximate 95% probability that an individual bridge comprised of elements in “poor” condition will require rehabilitation if no maintenance action is taken. Replacement of the deck, joints, and bearings will reduce the probability of required rehabilitation to around 50%.
Modeling and analysis of a district heating system containing thermal storage

The need for space heating and hot water in the residential and services sector makes up a major part of the total Swedish energy demand. This need is to a large extent satisfied by district heating (DH). In the future, it is expected that the energy system will include a larger share of intermittent renewable energy sources. This is likely to result in more fluctuating supply of electricity and hence, more volatile electricity prices. The presence of thermal storage (TS) can increase the flexibility of the DH system in terms of mitigating imbalances between demand and supply. It could also imply a substantial economic value if electricity price becomes more variable. The aim of this master thesis project is to increase the understanding of rational operational strategy in DH systems and assess the value of the TS in present and future perspectives. For this reason a techno-economic computer-based model, along with four scenarios, has been developed. A nonlinear mixed integer optimization implemented in the GAMS software. The model analysis is applied to the DH system of Boras. The reference scenario, representing the current DH system of Boras including TS, can be compared to real operational records. In addition, the reference scenario is also analyzed without TS in the system to estimate its value. The second scenario reflects a future with higher volatility in the electricity market price than today. Scenario three investigates the ability of the TS to serve as a redundancy unit while the fourth scenario estimates the most economically beneficial investment alternative in the case of a system expansion or unit replacement. Thus, the first and the third scenarios put emphasis on the TS from a current system perspective whereas the other two provide insights into future prospects. The model results indicate a drop in total system heat production cost when including TS in the DH system. This would also enhance overall efficiencies of the base load units and reduce the number of starts and stops of the peak load boilers. A sensitivity analysis of the minimum allowed TS capacity level showed that there is no incentive for keeping it at low capacity levels. The results based on a possible future price pattern imply that the total heat production costs drops with higher volatility in electricity prices given the presence of combined heat and power (CHP) and TS units. The model results also suggest that the TS could be a sufficient back-up unit in the case of a sudden black out of some of the heat generation capacities. In the case of a DH system expansion it would be environmentally and economically advantageous to invest in a base load production unit.
Women on corporate boards of directors : international research and practice

Contents:Introduction: Women on Corporate Boards of Directors: International Issues and OpportunitiesRonald J. Burke and Susan VinnicombePART I: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES1. Women Board Directors in the United States: An Eleven Year RetrospectiveLois Joy2. Women on Corporate Boards of Directors: The Canadian PerspectiveRonald J. Burke and Richard Lebranc3. The Pipeline to the Board Finally Opens: Women's Progress on FTSE 100 Boards in the UKRuth Sealy, Susan Vinnicombe and Val Singh4. Women on Corporate Boards of Directors: The French PerspectiveMairi Maclean and Charles Harvey5. New Zealand Women Directors: Many Aspire but Few SucceedRosanne Hawarden and Ralph Stablein6. 'Glacial at Best': Women's Progress on Corporate Boards in AustraliaAnne Ross-Smith and Jane Bridge7. The Quota Story: Five Years of Change in NorwayMarit Hoel8. Women on Corporate Boards of Directors: The Icelandic PerspectiveThoranna Jonsdottir9. Women on Corporate Boards of Directors in Spanish Listed CompaniesCelia de Anca10. Contrasting Positions of Women Directors in Jordan and TunisiaVal SinghPART II: RESEARCH THEMES11. Championing the Discussion of Tough Issues: How Women Corporate Directors Contribute to Board DeliberationNancy McInerney-Lacombe, Diana Bilimoria and Paul F. Salipante12. Women Directors and the 'Black Box' of Board BehaviourMorten Huse13. Do Women Still Lack the 'Right' Kind of Human Capital for Directorships on the FTSE 100 Corporate Boards? Siri Terjesen, Val Singh and Susan Vinnicombe14. Examining Gendered Experiences Beyond the Glass Ceiling: The Precariousness of the Glass Cliff and the Absence of Rewards Michelle K. Ryan, Clara Kulich, S. Alexander Haslam, Mette D. Hersby and Catherine Atkins15. On the Progress of Corporate Women: Less a Glass Ceiling than a Bottleneck? Dan R. Dalton and Catherine M. Dalton16. ION: Organizational Networking to Harness Local Power for National ImpactSusan M. Adams, Patricia M. Flynn and Toni G. Wolfman17. Women on Corporate Boards of Directors: Best Practice CompaniesHeather Foust-Cummings18. Critical Mass: Does the Number of Women on a Corporate Board Make a Difference? Sumru Erkut, Vicki W. Kramer and Alison M. KonradConclusion: Directions for Future Research on Women on Corporate Boards of DirectorsDiana Bilimoria
The Marshallian industrial district as a socio-economic notion

Introduction The following discussion was conceived initially as a framework for a theory of the industrial district. The objective of such a theory was twofold: first, it aimed at improving the accuracy of, and insights from, empirical studies of contemporary industrialisation; second, it was conceived as a first attempt towards recognising the existing links between the empirical issues of the district, and the main theoretical core of economic thinking – that is, of neoclassical, Marshalli.
Robust public transport from a passenger perspective: A study to evaluate and improve the robustness of multi-level public transport networks

Disturbances in public transport are an important issue for passengers, public transport operators and infrastructure managers. After the occurrence of large disturbances, there is often a strong call from passengers and society to make the public transport network less vulnerable – and therefore more robust – against these types of events. In this study, a methodology is developed which enables the evaluation of the current robustness of multi-level public transport networks, as well as the evaluation of proposed robustness measures. The case study shows that it is worth to consider another network level as back-up in case a certain network level is blocked. The result of the case study indicates that from a societal point of view, there is still room to improve the robustness of multi-level public transport networks.
Towards an effective design of management control systems : a contingency approach

In an attempt to provide a better understanding of MCS design, this study has utilised the contingency theory approach to investigate the contingent relationships between perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU), business strategy, organisational structure and various attributes of MCS simultaneously. This study has also investigated the mediating effect of two structural dimensions (centralisation and formalisation) on the relationship between PEU, business strategy and MCS design. In addition, this study has investigated the implications of fit, internal consistency or coalignment between the contextual variables and MCS attributes on organisational effectiveness, thus adopting a systems approach to fit recommended in the contingency literature. This study also builds on the works of Simons (1987) and Chenhall and Morris (1986) in terms of developing a wider and comprehensive view of MCS design. Seven MCS attributes have been investigated in this study including budgetary control system practices, budgetary control system usage, cost control systems, broad scope information, managerial evaluation and rewards system, aggregation and timeliness of information. A cross-sectional survey employing a questionnaire method of data collection was adopted. A total of 274 usable responses were received representing a response rate of 28%. For purposes of analysis, the research utilised structural equation modeling (SEM) multivariate statistical technique enabled by EQS 5.7 version software (Bentler, 1995). Thus, this study is one of the first studies in MC contingency literature to utilise SEM for validating the research constructs, controlling measurement error and for testing the structural relationships between the constructs simultaneously. The results of this study confirmed the multi-dimensional nature of PEU, business strategy and organisational structure and the differential effects each dimension has on MCS design. Also the results indicated that the different approaches to fit (i. e., bivariate and systems approaches) utilized in this research resulted in insightful findings relating the contingent relationships between the contextual variables and MCS attributes. In addition, the structural dimension of formalisation was found to have significant positive relationships with many of the MCS attributes and also mediated the relationship between differentiation strategy and MCS attributes of budgetary importance, cost control systems and non-financial performance measures. The results of this study also raise several implications for future MC contingency researchers and fill some gaps in the existing MC contingency literature. This study also contributes to the body of knowledge by providing guidance for future MC contingency researchers to implement the SEM method. SEM has a greater potential for testing theories, controlling measurement error, validating research constructs and testing structural relationships among multiple contextual variables and multiple MCS attributes simultaneously.
What’s driving the uptake of prefabricated housing in Australia?

Prefabrication has been promoted as a means to improve the efficiency of the Australian house building industry. Issues affecting the uptake of prefabrication were identified through interviews with small and medium sized building companies. Prefabrication’s specific impact on housing construction and smaller organisations has not been frequently investigated. Similar past research has been conducted without the use of a clear theoretical grounding guiding the identification of relevant issues. The current study is guided by a combination of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This allowed the identification of a broad range of issues across attitudinal, normative, behavioural control and technology adaptation domains. Results revealed improved quality was often offset against practical cost implications. While a high quality of prefabricated products was reported, key technical challenges included coordinating the transporting of modules, and balancing standardisation and product flexibility. Resistance from traditional industry stakeholders regarding build methods, financing, and openness to encouraging prefabrication was commonly reported. The key role of government decision making in facilitating greater demand and competitiveness of prefabricated businesses in the consumer marketplace was also highlighted. Further research is currently being undertaken by the authors, which builds on the exploratory results of the current study through confirmatory, quantitative surveying.
Evaluation of Some Salt Tolerance Criteria in Wheat Lines

A field experiment was conducted at Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman during 2010 growing season to determine salt tolerance of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) selected lines. 56 promising lines of wheat with two standard checks (Bam and Kavir) were grown in salinity and normal conditions, based on lattice experiment with two replicates. The EC of saline and normal soil was 9 and 1.1 ds m -1 respectively. Studied characteristics were total dry weight, shoot and root dry weight, plant height, 1000-seed weight and grain yield. Moreover salt tolerance indices such as SSI, TOL, GMP, and STI were calculated. The results showed that there were significant differences between the genotypes for grain yield in salty and normal conditions (p < 0.01). Also, the interaction between genotypes and stress on shoot and root dry weight and grain yield was significant. In general, lines 38, 40, 49, 83, 87 and 94 with better agronomic performance, lowest SSI, TOL and higher STI and GMP were salinity tolerance, which can be recommended as the promising lines in Kerman for introduction to the farmers and future studies.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH NOUN PHRASES OF SDA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDENTS

The study is aimed at examining gender variation in the construction of noun phrases in an English essay quiz written by SDA College of Education students. The research design adopted was the quantitative content analysis with specific reference to descriptive design. Data were derived from 300 quiz scripts of SDA College of Education students who did English language studies in the 2015/2016 academic year (1 st -3 rd year). Chi-square analysis was used to find out whether or not there were gender differences in the use of noun phrases in sentence construction and whether they were more or less significant and meaningful. The findings revealed that the female students used more complex noun phrases but they had single modifiers. The male students on the other hand used fewer complex noun phrases but with multiple modifiers.
Multimodal roles of library and information science professionals in present era

Innovation and development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and different library software and its application in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) create changes in entire library management system. The present study highlights the present scenarios of LIS profession and the professionals in this changing environment. The new roles of LIS professionals especially as advocate, consortia manager, consultant, content manager, facilitator, guide/teacher, intermediary, knowledge manager, researcher, sifter, web designer are discussed. Roles of government bodies, professional organizations and LIS schools to upgrade the managerial skills of LIS professionals to be fit for the changed situation are discussed. The study reveals the prospects and opportunities to cope with the changes in Library world from traditional to digital environment.
Validating the Fatigue Endurance Limit for Hot Mix Asphalt

This report presents the findings of research performed to investigate the existence of a fatigue endurance limit for hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures, the effect of HMA mixture characteristics on the endurance limit, and the potential for the limit's incorporation in structural design methods for flexible pavements. The report describes the research performed and includes proposed standard practices using various experimental and analytical procedures for determining the endurance limit of HMA mixtures. Thus, the report will be of immediate interest to materials and structural design engineers in state highway agencies and engineers in the HMA construction industry.
A pilot study of microbial signatures of liver disease in those with HIV mono-infection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Objective: The rectal microbiome was examined to assess the relationship between the microbiome and liver disease in HIV-infection. Design: Eighty-two HIV-1 mono-infected individuals from the PROSPEC-HIV-study (NCT02542020) were grouped into three liver health categories based on results of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) of transient elastography: normal (n = 30), steatosis (n = 30), or fibrosis (n = 22). Methods: Liver steatosis and fibrosis were defined by CAP at least 248 dB/m and LSM at least 8.0 kPa, respectively. 16S rRNA gene and whole genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing were performed on rectal swabs. Bacterial differences were assessed using zero-inflated negative binomial regression and random forests modeling; taxonomic drivers of functional shifts were identified using FishTaco. Results: Liver health status explained four percentage of the overall variation (r2 = 0.04, P = 0.003) in bacterial composition. Participants with steatosis had depletions of Akkermansia muciniphila and Bacteroides dorei and enrichment of Prevotella copri, Finegoldia magna, and Ruminococcus bromii. Participants with fibrosis had depletions of Bacteroides stercoris and Parabacteroides distasonis and enrichment of Sneathia sanguinegens. In steatosis, functional analysis revealed increases in primary and secondary bile acid synthesis encoded by increased Eubacterium rectale, F. magna, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and decreased A. muciniphila, Bacteroides fragilis and B. dorei. Decreased folate biosynthesis was driven by similar changes in microbial composition. Conclusion: HIV mono-infection with steatosis or fibrosis had distinct microbial profiles. Some taxa are similar to those associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in HIV-negative populations. Further studies are needed to define the role of the gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of liver disease in HIV-infected persons.